lurch

¹ American  

[lurch] / lɜrtʃ /

noun

1. an act or instance of swaying abruptly.

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

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

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verb (used without object)

1. to make a lurch; move with lurches; stagger.

   The wounded man lurched across the room.

   Synonyms:

   totter, reel, lunge

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

lurch ² American  

[lurch] / lɜrtʃ /

noun

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

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idioms

1. 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.

lurch ³ American  

[lurch] / lɜrtʃ /

verb (used without object)

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

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verb (used with object)

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

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

noun

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

lurch ¹ British  

/ lɜːtʃ /

verb

1. to lean or pitch suddenly to one side

2. to stagger or sway

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noun

1. the act or an instance of lurching

lurch ² British  

/ lɜːtʃ /

noun

1. to desert someone in trouble

2. cribbage the state of a losing player with less than 30 points at the end of a game (esp in the phrase in the lurch )

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lurch ³ British  

/ lɜːtʃ /

verb

1. archaic (intr) to prowl or steal about suspiciously

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lurch More Idioms  

1. see leave in the lurch.

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Other Word Forms

• lurching adjective
• lurchingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of lurch¹

First recorded in 1800–10; origin uncertain

Origin of lurch²

First recorded in 1525–35; from Middle French lourche a game, noun use of lourche (adjective) “defeated,” from a Germanic language; compare Middle High German lurz “left (hand); wrong,” lürzen “to deceive,” Old English belyrtan “to deceive”

Origin of lurch³

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English lorchen “to skulk,” apparently variant of lurken lurk

Example Sentences

As imports are disrupted, India has moved to ensure households and essential sectors remain adequately supplied, leaving restaurants, manufacturers and power plants in the lurch.

From Barron's

With a great lurch I felt the sled fly out into empty space and drop beneath me.

From Literature

As the war lurched from one disaster to the next, Tojo’s political enemies aligned against him.

From The Wall Street Journal

The new parody is lurching and ungainly, though: Stitching parts of various things together seems to come easier to mad scientists than filmmakers.

From The Wall Street Journal

Elsewhere in town, the original creature, played by Christian Bale, has lurched here from Austria still on his lonely quest for companionship.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bumble
• careen
• falter
• flounder
• heave
• jerk
• lean
• reel
• seesaw
• stagger
• stumble
• sway
• teeter
• tilt
• totter
• wallow
• wobble