lurch definition | Dictionary.com

lurch

1 [lurch]

–noun

1.	an act or instance of swaying abruptly.

2.	a sudden tip or roll to one side, as of a ship or a staggering person.

3.	an awkward, swaying or staggering motion or gait.

–verb (used without object)

4.	(of a ship) to roll or pitch suddenly.

5.	to make a lurch; move with lurches; stagger: The wounded man lurched across the room.

Origin:
1760–70; orig. uncert.

Related forms:

lurch⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
5. lunge, reel, totter.

lurch

2 [lurch]

–noun

1.	a situation at the close of various games in which the loser scores nothing or is far behind the opponent.

—Idiom

2.	leave in the lurch, to leave in an uncomfortable or desperate situation; desert in time of trouble: Our best salesperson left us in the lurch at the peak of the busy season.

Origin:
1525–35; < MF lourche a game, n. use of lourche (adj.) discomfited < Gmc; cf. MHG lurz left (hand), OE belyrtan to deceive

lurch

3 [lurch]

–verb (used with object)

1.	Archaic. to do out of; defraud; cheat.

2.	Obsolete. to acquire through underhanded means; steal; filch.

–verb (used without object)

3.	British Dialect. to lurk near a place; prowl.

–noun

4.	Archaic. the act of lurking or state of watchfulness.

Origin:
1375–1425; late ME lorchen, appar. var. of lurken to lurk

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To lurch

lurch¹ (lûrch)

intr.v. lurched, lurch·ing, lurch·es

To stagger. See Synonyms at blunder.
To roll or pitch suddenly or erratically: The ship lurched in the storm. The car gave a start and then lurched forward.

A staggering or tottering movement or gait.
An abrupt rolling or pitching.

[Origin unknown.]
lurch'ing·ly adv.

lurch² (lûrch)

n. The losing position of a cribbage player who scores 30 points or less to the winner's 61.

[Perhaps back-formation from Middle English lurching, a total victory at lorche, a kind of game; perhaps akin to lurken, to lurk; see lurk.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Lurch

Lurch\, v. 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

Lurch\, n. [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

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

Lurch\, n. [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

Lurch\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Lurched; p. pr. & vb. n. Lurching.] To roll or sway suddenly to one side, as a ship or a drunken man.

Lurch

Lurch\, v. 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. --Shak.

Language Translation for : lurch

Spanish: tambalearse,

German: taumeln,

Japanese: 急に傾く

More Translations »

lurch (1)

"sudden pitch to one side," 1819 (in Byron's "Don Juan"), from earlier lee-larch (1769), a nautical term for "sudden violent roll to leeward which a ship often takes in a high sea," perhaps from Fr. lacher "to let go," from L. laxus (see lax).

lurch (2)

"predicament," 1584, from M.E. lurch (v.) "to beat in a game of skill (often by a great many points)," c.1350, probably lit. "to make a complete victory in lorche," a game akin to backgammon, from O.Fr. lourche. The game name is perhaps related to M.E. lurken, lorken "to lie hidden, lie in ambush," or it may be adopted into Fr. from M.H.G. lurz "left," also "wrong."

lurch

see leave in the lurch.

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