What is "lurch"

Lurch \Lurch\, v. i. [L. lurcare, lurcari.] To swallow or eat greedily; to devour; hence, to swallow up.

Too far off from great cities, which may hinder business; too near them, which lurcheth all provisions, and maketh everything dear.
--Bacon.

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.

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\, 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.

   1. In the game of cribbage, to leave one's adversary so far behind that the game is won before he has scored thirty-one.

   2. 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\ (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.

"sudden pitch to one side," 1784, from earlier lee-larches (1765), a nautical term for "the sudden roll which a ship makes to lee-ward in a high sea, when a large wave strikes her, and bears her weather-side violently up, which depresses the other in proportion" ["Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences," London 1765]; perhaps from French lacher "to let go," from Latin laxus (see lax).\n\nWhen a Ship is brought by the Lee, it is commonly occaſsioned by a large Sea, and by the Neglect of the Helm's-man. When the Wind is two or three Points on the Quarter, the Ship taking a Lurch, brings the Wind on the other Side, and lays the Sails all dead to the Maſt; as the Yards are braced up, ſhe then having no Way, and the Helm being of no Service, I would therefore brace about the Head ſails ſharp the other Way ....

[John Hamilton Moore, Practical Navigator, 8th ed., 1784]

"predicament," 1580s, from Middle English lurch (v.) "to beat in a game of skill (often by a great many points)," mid-14c., probably literally "to make a complete victory in lorche," a game akin to backgammon, from Old French lourche. The game name is perhaps related to Middle English lurken, lorken "to lie hidden, lie in ambush," or it may be adopted into French from Middle High German lurz "left," also "wrong."

1821, from lurch (n.1). Related: Lurched; lurching.

Etymology 1 n. A sudden or unsteady movement. vb. To make such a sudden, unsteady movement. Etymology 2

vb. (context obsolete English) To swallow or eat greedily; to devour; hence, to swallow up. Etymology 3

n. 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/her adversary has been leave someone in the lurch. vb. 1 (context obsolete English) To leave someone in the lurch; to cheat. 2 (context obsolete English) To steal; to rob.

1. n. an unsteady uneven gait [syn: 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: pitch, pitching]

4. the act of moving forward suddenly [syn: lunge]

5. v. walk as if unable to control one's movements; "The drunken man staggered into the room" [syn: stagger, reel, keel, swag, careen]

6. move abruptly; "The ship suddenly lurched to the left" [syn: pitch, shift]

7. move slowly and unsteadily; "The truck lurched down the road"

8. loiter about, with no apparent aim [syn: prowl]

9. defeat by a lurch [syn: skunk]

Lurch may refer to:

Entertainment:

• Lurch (The Addams Family), fictional butler in the 1960s American television series
• Lurch McDuck, fictional character, Scrooge McDuck's cousin, in the 1968 Disney story
• Lurch (EP), released in 1990 by Steel Pole Bath Tub

As a nickname:

• Björn Andersson (handballer) (born 1950), Swedish former handball player
• Gene Brabender (1941-1996), American Major League Baseball pitcher
• Robert Jackson, musician with New Birth (band)
• John O'Neill (rugby league) (1943-1999), Australian rugby league player

Other uses:

• LURCH, software tool for debugging
• Jerk (physics), also known as lurch, the rate of change of acceleration
• Lurch, a Ankole-Watusi steer holding world record for horn circumference

Lurch is an EP by Steel Pole Bath Tub, released in 1990 by Boner Records.

Lurch (whose first name is unknown) is a fictional character created by American cartoonist Charles Addams as a manservant to The Addams Family. In the original television series, Lurch was played by Ted Cassidy, who used the famous catchphrase, "You rang?" (a similar phrase was the trademark of the character Maynard G. Krebs in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis).

When the phrase was delivered in the actor's slow basso profondo voice, producers found it so funny that it was incorporated into the show despite the character having been intended as a non-speaking part. Cassidy also voiced the character in the first animated series, as well as the episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies cartoon that preceded it.

In the second animated series, Lurch was voiced by Jim Cummings. Carel Struycken played Lurch in the later films. In The New Addams Family series, Lurch was portrayed by Canadian actor John DeSantis. Zachary James recently performed this character in the Broadway musical and Ben Hudson plays the role in the Sydney, Australia, production of the same musical.