Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Lurch

Lurch

,
Verb.
I.
[L.
lurcare
,
lurcari
.]
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

,
Noun.
[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

,
Verb.
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.
Shakespeare

Lurch

,
Noun.
[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.]
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

,
Verb.
I.
[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
.
Shakespeare
2.
(Zool.)
One of a mongrel breed of dogs said to have been a cross between the sheep dog, greyhound, and spaniel. It hunts game silently, by scent, and is often used by poachers.

Webster 1828 Edition

Lurch

LURCH

,
Noun.
[This is the same word radically as lurk. The primary sense is to run, start, leap or frisk about, as a man or beast that flies from one tree or other object to another to conceal himself. Hence we see the peculiar applicability of this word in seamen's language.]
In seamen's language, a sudden roll of a ship. A lee-lurch is a sudden roll to the leeward, as when a heavy sea strikes the ship on the weather side.
To leave in the lurch, to leave in a difficult situation, or in embarrassment; to leave in a forlorn state or without help.

LURCH

, v.i.
1.
To roll or pass suddenly to one side, as a ship in a heavy sea.
2.
To withdraw to one side, or to a private place; to lie in ambush or in secret; to lie close. [For this, lurk is now used.]
3.
To shift; to play tricks.
I am fain to shuffle, to hedge and to lurch.

LURCH

, v.t.
1.
To defeat; to disappoint, that is, to evade; as, to lurch the expectation. [Little used.]
2.
To steal; to filch; to pilfer. [Little used.]

LURCH

,
Verb.
T.
[L. lurco, a glutton.] To swallow or eat greedily; to devour. [Not used.]

Similar Results