LURCHING

Verb

lurching

present participle of lurch

Noun

lurching (plural lurchings)

the action of the verb to lurch

Source: Wiktionary


LURCH

Lurch, v. i. Etym: [L. lurcare, lurcari.]

Definition: To swallow or eat greedily; to devour; hence, to swallow up. [Obs.] Too far off from great cities, which may hinder business; too near them, which lurcheth all provisions, and maketh everything dear. Bacon.

Lurch, n. Etym: [OF. lourche name of a game; as adj., deceived, embarrassed.]

1. An old game played with dice and counters; a variety of the game of tables.

2. A double score in cribbage for the winner when his adversary has been left in the lurch. Lady --- has cried her eyes out on losing a lurch. Walpole. To leave one in the lurch. (a) In the game of cribbage, to leave one's adversary so far behind that the game is won before he has scored thirty-one. (b) To leave one behind; hence, to abandon, or fail to stand by, a person in a difficulty. Denham. But though thou'rt of a different church, I will not leave thee in the lurch. Hudibras.

Lurch, v. t.

1. To leave in the lurch; to cheat. [Obs.] Never deceive or lurch the sincere communicant. South.

2. To steal; to rob. [Obs.] And in the brunt of seventeen battles since He lurched all swords of the garland. Shak.

Lurch, n. Etym: [Cf. W. llerch, llerc, a frisk, a frisking backward or forward, a loitering, a lurking, a lurking, llercian, llerciaw, to be idle, to frisk; or perh. fr. E. lurch to lurk.]

Definition: A sudden roll of a ship to one side, as in heavy weather; hence, a swaying or staggering movement to one side, as that by a drunken man. Fig.: A sudden and capricious inclination of the mind.

Lurch, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Lurched; p. pr. & vb. n. Lurching.]

Definition: To roll or sway suddenly to one side, as a ship or a drunken man.

Lurch, v. i. Etym: [A variant of lurk.]

1. To withdraw to one side, or to a private place; to lurk. L'Estrange.

2. To dodge; to shift; to play tricks. I . . . am fain to shuffle, to hedge, and to lurch. Shak.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

29 June 2025

ADMIRABLE

(adjective) deserving of the highest esteem or admiration; ā€œan estimable young professorā€; ā€œtrains ran with admirable precisionā€; ā€œhis taste was impeccable, his health admirableā€


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Coffee Trivia

The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.

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