Definition: lurch

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

lurch
     n 1: an unsteady uneven gait [syn: stumble, stagger]
     2: abrupt up-and-down motion (as caused by a ship or other
        conveyance); "the pitching and tossing was quite exciting"
        [syn: pitch, pitching]
     3: the act of moving forward suddenly [syn: lunge]
     v 1: walk as if unable to control one's movements [syn: stagger,
           reel, keel, swag, careen]
     2: move abruptly [syn: pitch, shift]
     3: move slowly and unsteadily; "The truck lurched down the
        road" [syn: stagger]
     4: loiter about, with no apparent aim [syn: prowl]
     5: defeat by a lurch, as in certain card games [syn: skunk]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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\, 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\, 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.