Sekirov Dictionary

lurch

UK /lɜːt͡ʃ/US /lɜɹt͡ʃ/

noun 5
verb 7
forms 4
phrases 1

noun5

A sudden or unsteady movement.
A predicament or difficult situation.
(dialect) A lift or heave.
•
A double score in cribbage for the winner when their adversary has not yet pegged their 31st hole.
- August 14, 1784, Horace Walpole, letter to the Hon. H. S. Conway Lady Blandford has cried her eyes out on losing a lurch.
An old game played with dice and counters; a variety of the game of tables.

verb7

•
To make such a sudden, unsteady movement.
- It occurred to me there was no time to lose, and dodging the boom as it once more lurched across the deck, I slipped aft and down the companion stairs into the cabin. — 1881
(dialect) To evade by stooping; to lurk; lie in wait; go about in a sneaking way.
(dialect) To take by surprise; to unexpectedly detain.
To defeat in the game of cribbage with a lurch (double score as explained under noun entry).
•
(no longer used) To leave someone in the lurch; to cheat.
- Never deceive or lurch the sincere communicant. — 1692
•
(no longer used) To rob.
- And in the brunt of seventeen battles since / He lurched all swords of the garland. — 1608
•
(no longer used) To swallow or eat greedily; to devour; hence, to swallow up.
- Too far off from great cities, which may hinder business; too near them, which lurcheth all provisions, and maketh everything dear. — 1625

forms

lurched · lurching · lurches · lurcheth

Phrases with lurch

leave someone in the lurch
To abandon somebody; especially, to abandon somebody and leave them in a difficult situation.

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