LURCH • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Lurch

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/lərtʃ/ Listen

noun

Lurch n.

An old game played with dice and counters; a variety of the game of tables.

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."

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. "But though thou'rt of a different church, I will not leave thee in the lurch."

Lurch n. 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.

verb

Lurch v. t.

To leave in the lurch; to cheat. (Obs.) "Never deceive or lurch the sincere communicant."

To steal; to rob. (Obs.) "And in the brunt of seventeen battles since He lurched all swords of the garland."

Lurch v. i. 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."

Lurch v. i. (past & past part. lurched; pres. part. lurching) To roll or sway suddenly to one side, as a ship or a drunken man; to move forward while lurching.

Lurch v. i.

To withdraw to one side, or to a private place; to lurk.

To dodge; to shift; to play tricks. "I... am fain to shuffle, to hedge, and to lurch."

See images of 'Lurch'

Etymology of 'Lurch'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Lurch" Quotes from Famous Books

... to say, at least to the successful one. He bent over the dead panther, and examined it with curiosity. Will was loudly lamenting the fact that once again he had found himself left in the lurch. ...

— The Outdoor Chums After Big Game - Or, Perilous Adventures in the Wilderness • Captain Quincy Allen

... a great deal of rain, all through the spring and into the summer. Strawberries, that generally do well in wet weather, did not bless us with their usual abundance. Currants and gooseberries also left us in the lurch—but the Snyder blackberries were loaded with luscious fruit, while raspberries—why the berries of the Golden Queen bent the stalks down with their weight. Prof. Hansen's Sunbeams were covered with berries, ...

— Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916 • Various

... you find anything about a savings bank that has failed and left the people in the lurch for their money, you show it to me. Savings banks don't ...

— The Young Engineers in Arizona - Laying Tracks on the Man-killer Quicksand • H. Irving Hancock

... Lord Chetwynde and Hilda. Outside was the driver. Hilda was just pointing out to Lord Chetwynde some peculiar tint in the purple of the distant Apennines when suddenly the carriage gave a lurch, and with a wild bound, the horses started off at full speed down the road. Something had happened. Either the harness had given way or the horses were frightened; at any rate, they were running away at a fearful pace, and the driver, erect on his seat, ...

— The Cryptogram - A Novel • James De Mille

... happy, cast Jonah off, and stood for a moment like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Jonah watched anxiously, expecting him to fall, but all at once, with a forward lurch Dad broke into a run, safe on his feet as a spinning top. Jonah had forgotten Dad's run, famous throughout all ...

— Jonah • Louis Stone

More quotes...