lurch

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

Lurch \Lurch\, v. i. [L. lurcare, lurcari.]
   To swallow or eat greedily; to devour; hence, to swallow up.
   [Obs.]
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         Too far off from great cities, which may hinder
         business; too near them, which lurcheth all provisions,
         and maketh everything dear.              --Bacon.
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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.
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   2. A double score in cribbage for the winner when his
      adversary has been left in the lurch.
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            Lady --- has cried her eyes out on losing a lurch.
                                                  --Walpole.
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   {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.
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                But though thou'rt of a different church,
                I will not leave thee in the lurch. --Hudibras.
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Lurch \Lurch\, v. i. [A variant of lurk.]
   1. To withdraw to one side, or to a private place; to lurk.
      --L'Estrange.
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   2. To dodge; to shift; to play tricks.
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            I . . . am fain to shuffle, to hedge, and to lurch.
                                                  --Shak.
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Lurch \Lurch\, v. t.
   1. To leave in the lurch; to cheat. [Obs.]
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            Never deceive or lurch the sincere communicant.
                                                  --South.
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   2. To steal; to rob. [Obs.]
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            And in the brunt of seventeen battles since
            He lurched all swords of the garland. --Shak.
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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.
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Lurch \Lurch\ (l[^u]rch), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Lurched}
   (l[^u]rcht); p. pr. & vb. n. {Lurching}.]
   To roll or sway suddenly to one side, as a ship or a drunken
   man; to move forward while lurching.
   [1913 Webster +PJC]
    

189 Moby Thesaurus words for "lurch":
      abandon, amble, barge, bend, bent, bias, blunder, bob, bobble,
      bowl along, bumble, bundle, capsize, careen, career, clump, coggle,
      come a cropper, crook, dangle, desert, disposition, drag, droop,
      drop, fall, fall down, fall flat, fall headlong, fall over,
      fall prostrate, falter, flounce, flounder, fluctuate, flutter,
      foot, footslog, forsake, gait, gallop, get a cropper, halt, heave,
      heel, hippety-hop, hitch, hobble, hobbyhorse, hop, inclination,
      jilt, jog, jolt, jump, labor, librate, limp, list, lock step, lug,
      lumber, lunge, make heavy weather, mince, mincing steps, nutate,
      oscillate, pace, paddle, peg, penchant, pendulate, piaffe, piaffer,
      pitch, pitch and plunge, pitch and toss, plod, plunge, pound,
      prance, predilection, predisposition, proclivity, propensity, rack,
      rear, reel, resonate, rock, roll, sashay, saunter, scend, scuff,
      scuffle, scuttle, seethe, shake, shamble, sheer, shuffle, sidle,
      single-foot, skew, skip, slink, slither, slog, slouch, slowness,
      slue, snap, snapper, sprawl, spread-eagle, stagger, stalk, stammer,
      stamp, step, stomp, straddle, straggle, stride, stroll,
      strolling gait, struggle, strut, stumble, stump, swag, swagger,
      sway, swerve, swing, swinging, take a fall, take a flop,
      take a header, take a pratfall, take a spill, tendency,
      thrash about, tilt, tilter, tittup, toddle, topple, topple down,
      topple over, toss, toss and tumble, toss and turn, totter, traipse,
      tread, trip, trot, trudge, tumble, turn, turn turtle, twist,
      twitch, vacillate, veer, vellicate, velocity, vibrate, volutation,
      waddle, wag, waggle, walk, wallop, wallow, wamble, warp, wave,
      waver, weave, welter, whirl, wiggle, wobble, yank, yaw