surf

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To ride on waves towards the shore while standing on a special board.

   Californians love to surf in the early morning.

2. 2
   noun

   Waves that break on the shore of the sea.

   The children played in the foaming surf.

3. 3
   verb

   To move from page to page on the internet, looking around casually.

   He likes to surf the web before bed.

Probably from earlier suff, suffe (“the inrush of the sea towards the shore”), possibly from Middle English suffe. Compare sough, surf (“a gutter, drain, sewer, trench”) and sough (“a soothing, gentle, murmuring sound of wind or water”). Alternatively, possibly of Indo-Aryan origin, as the word was formerly a reference to the coast of India, though this is doubtful as no positive etymon can be identified. The verb is from 1917. The verb referring to "browsing the Internet" was popularized by Jean Armour Polly.

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