lurch.
A sudden or unsteady movement.
Meaning & usage
A sudden or unsteady movement.
the lurch of a ship, or of a drunkard
Where this word comes from
Originally a nautical term, found in lee-larches (“the sudden and violent rolls of a ship to the leeward in high seas”), of unknown origin. Possibly the same as lurch (“to move stealthily, evade by stooping”) (see below), or from French lâcher (“to let go”).
To make such a sudden, unsteady movement.
Where this word comes from
Originally a nautical term, found in lee-larches (“the sudden and violent rolls of a ship to the leeward in high seas”), of unknown origin. Possibly the same as lurch (“to move stealthily, evade by stooping”) (see below), or from French lâcher (“to let go”).
To swallow or eat greedily; to devour; hence, to swallow up.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *lurchen (recorded only in Middle English lurcare, lurcard (“glutton”)), from Old French *lurcher, from Latin lurcō (“eat greedily, guzzle”), of uncertain origin. Compare Middle High German slurken (“to slurp”) (whence German schlurken).
To evade by stooping; to lurk; lie in wait; go about in a sneaking way.
To take by surprise; to unexpectedly detain.
To rob.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English lorchen, variant of Middle English lurken (“to lurk”). More at lurk.
A lift or heave.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English lorchen, variant of Middle English lurken (“to lurk”). More at lurk.
A predicament or difficult situation.
to leave someone in the lurch
An old game played with dice and counters; a variety of the game of tables.
A double score in cribbage for the winner when their adversary has not yet pegged their 31st hole.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *lurche (implied in derivative lurching), from Old French lourche (“deceived, embarrassed; also the name of a game”), from Proto-West Germanic *lort (“left; left-handed; crooked; bent; warped; underhanded; deceitful; limping”). Cognate to English lirt.
To defeat in the game of cribbage with a lurch (double score as explained under noun entry).
To leave someone in the lurch; to cheat.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *lurche (implied in derivative lurching), from Old French lourche (“deceived, embarrassed; also the name of a game”), from Proto-West Germanic *lort (“left; left-handed; crooked; bent; warped; underhanded; deceitful; limping”). Cognate to English lirt.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.