lurch

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to make a sudden, unsteady movement

   The bus gave a violent lurch as it rounded the corner.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Lurch has two unrelated origins. In leave someone in the lurch, it comes from French lourche, the name of a 16th-century game resembling backgammon, and referred to a position in which one player was far behind. The sense “sudden, uncontrolled movement” arose in the late 17th century as a sailors’ term for a ship leaning abruptly to one side; its further origin is unknown.

Of uncertain origin; the nautical sense 'sudden roll of a ship' (18th century) may be an alteration of earlier lee-larch. The word's deeper history is obscure.

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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