▪ I. lurch, n.1
(lɜːtʃ)
Also 6–7 lurche, lurtch.
[a. F. lourche (erroneously written l'ourche) a game resembling backgammon, played in the 16th c.; also used as adj. in the phr. demeurer lourche, app. primarily to incur a ‘lurch’ (see 2 below) in this game, hence fig. to be discomfited or disappointed.
Obviously related in some way to this Fr. word are early and dial. mod.G. lortsch, lurtsch, lorz, lurz, the name of a game, also as adj. in lurz werden, a phrase in various games, expressing the failure to achieve some object aimed at; MHG. lorz, lurz (also lerz), mod.Ger. dial. lurz, lurtsch left (hand), wrong, whence MDu. loorts, loyrtz, luers left; MHG. lürzen (= OE. belyrtan belirt v.) to deceive, whence MDu. lordsen. The most plausible supposition with regard to the relation between these words is that the MHG. lurz left, wrong, or its derivative lurtsch (cf. linksch from link), was adopted into Fr. as a gaming term (lourche adj.), and that lourche n. as the name of a game was developed from the adj. As a name for the game, the Ger. word is probably a readoption from Fr.]
† 1. A game, no longer known, supposed to have resembled backgammon. Obs.
| 1611 Cotgr., Lourche, the game called Lurche. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. xxii. 94 There he played..At the lurch. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. xli. (1674) 57 He might account business his pastime..instead of Picquet or Lurch. a 1693 Urquhart's Rabelais iii. xii. 98 My Mind was only running upon the lurch and tricktrack. |
2. Used in various games to denote a certain concluding state of the score, in which one player is enormously ahead of the other; often, a ‘maiden set’ or love-game, i.e. a game or set of games in which the loser scores nothing; at cribbage, a game in which the winner scores 61 before the loser has scored 31; in whist, a treble. to save the lurch: in whist, to prevent one's adversary from scoring a treble. Now rare (? or Obs.).
| 1598 Florio, Marcio, a lurch or maiden set at any game. 1606 Dekker Sev. Sins iv. (Arb.) 32 What by Betting, Lurches, Rubbers and such tricks, they neuer tooke care for a good daies worke afterwards. 1608 ― Belman Lond. F 3, Whose Inne is a Bowling Alley, whose bookes are bowles, and whose law cases are lurches and rubbers. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais ii. xii, By two of my table-men in the corner-point I have gained the lurch. 1674 Gouldman's Lat. Dict. (ed. 3) 1, A lurch, duplex palma, facilis victoria. 1742 Hoyle Whist i. 13 A Probability either of saving your Lurch, or winning the Game. 1745 Gentl. Mag. 606 A King!—we're up—I vow I fear'd a lurch. 1784 H. Walpole Let. 14 Aug. (1858) VIII. 495 Lady Blandford has cried her eyes out on losing a lurch. 1860 Bohn's Handbk. Games iii. 83 The game [long whist] consists of ten points; when no points are marked by the losing partners, it is treble, and reckons three points;..This is called a lurch. 1876 ‘Capt. Crawley’ Card Players' Man. 18 Lurch (at Long Whist), not saving the double. Ibid. 128 [Cribbage] A lurch—scoring the whole sixty-one before your adversary has scored thirty-one—is equivalent to a double game. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 129/2 (Bowls) Lurch game, a game in which one side has scored five before the other has scored one. |
3. † a. A discomfiture. Obs.
| 1584 Lodge Alarum C ij b, If heereafter thou fall into the lyke lurch,..so then I will accompt of thee as a reprobate. c 1600 Peele's Jests (c 1620) 20 The Tapster hauing many of these lurches, fell to decay. 1608 R. Armin Nest Ninn. D b, Often such forwarde deedes, meete with backward lurches. 1679 Heart & Right Soveraign 119 The Italian out-wits the Jew in his part, and the lurch befalls the English side. |
† b. to give (a person) the lurch: to discomfit, get the better of. Obs.
| 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 25 Gellia intic'd her good⁓man to the Citty, And often threatneth to giue him the lurch. ? c 1600 Bride's Buriall 38 in Roxb. Ball. (1871) I. 248 Faire Hellens face gaue Grecian Dames the lurch. 1626 Breton Pasquil's Mad-cap (Grosart) 6/2 How ere his wit may giue the foole the lurch, He is not fit to gouerne in the Church. |
† c. to have (take) on (in, at) the lurch: to have or take (a person) at a disadvantage. Obs.
| 1591 Greene Disc. Coosnage (1592) 7 There was fourtie to one on my side, and ile haue you on the lurch anon. 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. B viij b, Shee..Sels lyes for nothing, nothing for too much; Faith for three farthings, t'haue thee in the lurch. 1615 T. Adams Black Devil 74 Thus the great Parasite of the soule that heretofore..flatterd this wretch with the paucity of his Sinnes, now takes him in the lurch, and over-reckons him. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. IV, clx, The Sage Span of a Circle tooke the Starres at Lurch, To Conspire Storme. 1692 D'Urfey Pills (1719) V. 3 He took me in the lurch. |
† d. in a person's lurch: in his power. Obs.
| 1607 R. C[arew] tr. Estienne's World of Wonders 195 Hauing him in his lurch and at his lure. 1641 J. Shute Sarah & Hagar (1649) 93 They lose their authority when they come within the lurch of their servants. 1643 T. Goodwin Trial Christian's Growth 127 David, when he had Saul in his lurch, might as easily have cut off his head. |
e. to leave in the lurch: to leave in adverse circumstances without assistance; to leave in a position of unexpected difficulty.
Cf. the somewhat earlier phr. to leave in the lash (see lash n.1 4).
| 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden 119 Whom..he also procured to be equally bound with him for his new cousens apparence to the law, which he neuer did, but left both of them in the lurtch for him. 1600 Holland Livy 222 The Volscians seeing themselves abandoned and left in the lurch by them,..quit the campe and field. 1663 Butler Hud. i. iii. 764 And though th' art of a diff'rent Church, I will not leave thee in the lurch. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 119 ¶6 If the Country Gentlemen get into it they will certainly be left in the lurch. a 1716 South Serm. (1842) I. 345 In transubstantiation, where accidents are left in the lurch by their proper subject. 1873 E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 357 My Eyes have been leaving me in the lurch again. 1879 Browning Martin Relph 66 He has left his sweetheart here in the lurch. |
† 4. A cheat, swindle. Obs.
(In our quots. the earliest recorded use.)
| 1533 J. Heywood Pardoner & Friar (1830) B iv, No more of this wranglyng in my chyrch, I shrewe your hartys bothe for this lurche. a 1550 Image Hypocr. i. in Skelton's Wks. (1843) II. 432/2 They blered hym with a lurche. 1604 T. M. Black Bk. E iv, I giue and bequeath to thee..All such Lurches, Gripes, and Squeezes, as may bee wrung out by the fist of extortion. 1611 R. Badley in Coryat's Crudities, Panegyr. Verses, Briefly, for triall of a religious lurch Thou nimbd'st an image out of Brixias Church. ? 1616 Chapman Hymn to Hermes 63 I'le have a scape, as well as he a serch, And over take him with a greater lurch. |
▪ II. lurch, n.2
(lɜːtʃ)
[f. lurch v.1]
† 1. An opportunity of ‘lurching’ or outstripping others in eating. (Cf. lurch v.1 2.) Obs.
| 1568 North Gueuara's Diall Pr. iv. vii. 125 b, And if perhaps a courtier come late, and the table be all ready full, and the lurch out, yet he will not be ashamed to eat his meat neuertheles. For albee it hee can not bee placed at his ease yet..rather than fayle he will syt of half a buttock. |
2. to lie at (on, upon the) lurch: to lie concealed; to be in a lurking place; to lie in wait. lit. and fig.
| 1578 O. Roydon in T. Proctor's Gorg. Gallery, Pref. Verses, The drowsie Drones doo neuer take such toyle, But lye at lurch, like men of Momus minde. 1589 R. Robinson Gold. Mirr. (Chetham Soc.) 25 Fained Friendship now layes on lurtch, his faithful friend to spil. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. Democr. to Rdr. (1651) 29 Another Epicurean company, lying at lurch as so many vultures, watching for a prey of Church goods. 16.. Paradox xvii. in Third Collect. Poems (1689) 25 Or H―, that lyes upon the Lurch, Who left the Charters, shall restore the Church. 1762 Goldsm. Nash Wks. (Globe) 548/2 He chiefly laboured to be thought a sayer of good things; and by frequent attempts was now and then successful, for he ever lay upon the lurch. 1860 J. P. Kennedy W. Wirt I. v. 68 The enemy of human happiness, always lying at lurch to make prey of the young. |
▪ III. lurch, n.3
(lɜːtʃ)
[Of obscure origin.
The word app. occurs as the second element of lee-larches in the first quot. below, for which later nautical and other dicts. substitute lee-lurches. If lee-larches in Falconer be not a misprint for -lurches, it may represent an altered pronunciation of the older lee-latch, in the word of command ‘have a care of the lee-latch’, i.e. ‘look that the ship does not go to leeward of her course’ (Milit. & Sea Dict. 1711). It seems possible that lurch originated in the compound lee-lurch, an alteration (by association with lurch n.1 3) of lee-larch for lee-latch, which prob. contains latch n.2, letch n.2 inclination (for the sense development cf. the etymological note on list n.5).]
1. (Orig. Naut.) A sudden leaning over to one side, as of a ship, a person staggering, etc. Also, a gait characterized by such movements. Phr. to give a lurch.
| [1769 Falconer Dict. Marine, Lee-larches, the sudden and violent rolls which a ship often takes to leeward in a high sea.] 1819 Byron Juan ii. xix, Here the ship gave a lurch, and he grew sea-sick. 1843 A. Bethune Sc. Fireside Stor. 35 The heavy lurch, told too plainly what he had been about. 1848 J. Grant Adv. Aide-de-C. I. iv. 47 As the carriage swayed from side to side, I expected at every lurch, that the whole party would be upset. 1863 Baring-Gould Iceland 266 They got the vessel afloat, and with a lurch, she ran out to sea. 1876 Besant & Rice Gold. Butterfly i, There was the slightest possible lurch in their walk. 1901 Speaker 6 Apr. 10/2 We were soon clattering over cobbled streets with an ample lurch at intervals. |
2. U.S. A propensity, penchant, leaning.
| 1854 M. Cummins Lamplighter xv. 92 She has a nateral lurch for it [learning], and it comes easy to her. 1878 A. Phelps in E. S. Phelps Memoir (1891) 219, I think I got from Professor Stuart and Albert Barnes, both of whom were penurious letter-writers, a lurch adverse to such work. |
▪ IV. lurch, v.1
(lɜːtʃ)
[app. a variant of lurk v. The relation between the two forms is obscure; it is not analogous to that between birch and birk, church and kirk, beseech and seek, etc., where the OE. form has umlaut. The development of sense somewhat resembles that of forestall v., but has perh. been influenced by lurch n.1 or v.2]
† 1. intr. To remain in or about a place furtively or secretly, esp. with evil design. (Cf. forestall v. 1.) Also, ? to avoid company, ? to sulk. Obs.
| c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 1377 Þen come þe sexsten to serche þe chirche,..& sey hem in an hyron þere so lorche. 1570 Levins Manip. 190/33 To Lurche, latitare. 1575 R. B. Apius & Virginia E j b, Then gallope to see where her father doth lurche. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. ii. 26, I my selfe..hiding mine honor in my necessity, am faine to shuffle, to hedge, and to lurch. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xix. (Arb.) 220 For when he is merry, she lurcheth and she loures, When he is sad she singes, or laughes it out by houres. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. ii. 117/1 There's a crue of Thieues that prie and lurch, And steale and share the liuings of the Church. 1632 Brome Novella ii. ii, I'le turne you off..To lurch i' th' night betwixt eleaven and two To rob and drown for prey. a 1677 Barrow Serm. xxviii. Wks. 1687 I. 376 Not at least to be as a Fox or a Wolf; either cunningly lurching, or violently ravening for prey. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables xii. 12 While the One was upon Wing, the Other stood Lurching upon the Ground, and flew away with the Fish. 1727 Somerville Dainty new Ballad 14 For Love, that little urchin About this widow lurching, Had slily fix'd his dart. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones vi. x, The son of a whore came lurching about the house. 1790 Potter Dict. Cant (1795), Lurch, to lay by, to sneak, to hang on. |
b. Of greyhounds: (See quot. 1897).
| 1824 Byron Juan xvi. lxxx, Whose hounds ne'er err'd, nor greyhounds deign'd to lurch. 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. iii. ii. §3 (ed. 2) 155 [Greyhounds.] Remember that too much knowledge or cleverness soon leads to lurching. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 210/1 Lurching, of the greyhound; running cunning, and leaving the most part of the work to its opponent. |
2. trans. To get the start of (a person) so as to prevent him from obtaining a fair share of food, profit, etc. In later use, to defraud, cheat, rob. Obs. exc. arch.
| 1530 Palsgr. 616/1, I lurtche, as one dothe his felowes at meate with eatynge to hastyly, je briffe. Syt nat at his messe, for he wyll lurtche you than. 1568 Abp. Parker Corr. (Parker Soc.) 337, I pray your honour be a mean that Jugge only may have the preferment of this edition; for if any other should lurch him to steal from him these copies, he were a great loser. 1573 Tusser Husb. xxiii. (1878) 61 Yoong colts with thy wennels together go serue, least lurched by others they happen to sterue. 1592 Greene Def. Conny Catch. (1859) 18 Was not this an old Cony catcher..that could lurtch a poore Conny of so many thousands at one time? 1604 Middleton Father Hubburd's Tales Wks. (Bullen) VIII. 94 Where like villanous cheating bowlers, they lurched me of two of my best limbs. 1607 Shakes. Cor. ii. ii. 105 And in the brunt of seuenteene Battailes since, He lurcht all Swords of the Garland. 1609 B. Jonson Sil. Wom. v. iv, You haue lurch'd your friends of the better halfe of the garland. 1810 Scott Lady of L. vi. v, And 'tis right of his office poor laymen to lurch, Who infringe the domains of our good Mother Church. |
† 3. To be beforehand in securing (something); to consume (food) hastily so that others cannot have their share; to engross, monopolize (commodities); in later use, to get hold of by stealth, pilfer, filch, steal. (Cf. forestall v. 2.) Obs.
| c 1550 Disc. Common Weal Eng. (1893) 32 Ye lurched some of the coyne as sone as euer ye perceived the price of that to be enhaunced. 1568 V. Skinner Montanus' Inquisition 39 b, Some of ye meat which he had lurched from the prisoners. 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 23 Her christall eyes had lurcht his yielding heart. 1599 Broughton's Let. viii. 28 Bel his priests priuily lurched the viands, which were supposed to be deuoured by the Idoll. 1613 F. Robartes Rev. Gosp. Title-p., The sacred offering broyles: the eagle spies, A gob she lurch'd, and to her young she flies. 1622 S. Ward Christ All in All (1627) 31 Oh how difficult is this for vs, not to lurch some part of the praise. 1625 Bacon Ess., Building (Arb.) 548 Too farre off from great Cities, which may hinder Businesse; Or too neare them, which Lurcheth all Prouisions, and maketh euery Thing deare. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. To Rdr. A ij, How much hath that..Plagiarie..closely lurcht out of this Author? 1642 Vicars God in Mount (1644) 39 Clergy-trash, who lay lurking in the Bee-hives of the Church, and lurching away the sweet honey from the laborious Bees. 1660 Milton Free Commw. Wks. 1738 I. 595 If we can keep us from the fond Conceit..put lately into many Mens heads by some one or other suttly driving on under that notion his own ambitious ends to lurch a Crown. |
† b. absol. Obs.
| 1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 66 The Sonne could scarce refraine from biting out his Fathers throate-boule, when he saw him swallow downe a bit that he died for. The Mother lurcht from them both. 1620 Middleton Chaste Maid iii. ii, See how they lurch at the lower end. 1640 Bp. Hall Chr. Moder. i. xi. 104 Wherein had he been a thiefe, if he had not..meant to lurch out of the common Treasury? |
4. To catch (rabbits) by means of lurchers.
| 1727 Mather Yng. Man's Companion 12 He lurches Conies. [Given as an example of the word.] 1798 [see lurching vbl. n.1 2]. |
5. Comb.: † lurch-church (see quot.); † lurch-line, ‘the line of a fowling-net, by which it was pulled over to enclose the birds’ (Nares); † lurch-man (nonce-wd.), a pilferer.
| 1578 Mirr. Mag., Harold xii, Let hym go beate the bushe, I and my men to the lurche line will steale, And pluck the Net. 1603 Breton Mad World (Grosart) 12/2 These may rather be called lurch-men then Church-men, who as they are not troubled with much learning, so they have no more honesty, then they may well away withall. c 1700 De la Pryme Hist. Holy Trin. Ch. Hull 321 (MS.), When a man that's in orders go's voluntarily and preaches in a Church to which he was never..instituted..our law gives him no title to the tithes but calls him a Lurch Church. |
▪ V. lurch, v.2
(lɜːtʃ)
[f. lurch n.1]
1. trans. To beat, in various games of skill, sometimes by a specified number or proportion of points. (See lurch n.1 2.)
| c 1350 [implied in lurching vbl. n.2]. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. ii. 1062 Your old foe, the hangman, Was like to lurch you at Back-gammon. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Lurched, beaten at any Game. 1760 Foote Minor i. Wks. 1799 I. 241 Lurch me at four, but I was mark'd to the top of your trick, by the baron, my dear. 1763 Hoyle Piquet 150 It is about two to one that the Eldest-hand does not lurch the Younger-hand. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar Tongue s.v. Lurch, Those who lose a game of whist without scoring five are said to be lurched. 1830 R. Hardie Hoyle made Familiar 61 [Cassino.] Lurched, is when your adversary has won the game, before you have gained six points. |
b. fig. To defeat. ? Obs.
| a 1716 South Serm. (1744) XI. 289 He will be lurched in that that admits of no after-game or reparation. 1829 Examiner 354/2 Chancery Reform was lurched the week before last. |
2. To leave in the lurch, disappoint, deceive. ? Obs.
| a 1651 C. Love in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lxii. 10 How many have riches served as Absalom's mule served her master, whom she lurched, and left..hanging. 1692 South Serm. (1697) I. 29 Putting such an emptiness in them, as should so quickly fail and lurch the expectation. 1727 Bailey vol. II, Lurching, leaving a Person under some embarrassment. 1791 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Apol. for Kings Moral, Wks. 1816 II. 246 This little anecdote doth plainly show That ignorance, a king too often lurches. 1809 E. S. Barrett Setting Sun II. 109 The Hon. Charles James Fox,..having been lurched by lord North, turned his face to Whiggism. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 68 They are foiled by fortune, who hath lurched generals in her time. |
▪ VI. lurch, v.3 (Orig. Naut.)
(lɜːtʃ)
[f. lurch n.3]
1. intr. Of a ship, etc.: To make a lurch; to lean suddenly over to one side; to move with lurches.
| 1833 Marryat P. Simple xv, We heeled over so much when we lurched, that the guns were wholly supported by the breechings and tackles. 1845 R. Cobbold Marg. Catchpole xx. II. 50 The boat lurched through the breakers like a log. 1866 Neale Sequences & Hymns 37 Tempests of temptations Made our vessel lurch and dip. 1902 Speaker 9 Sept. 601/1 It lurches up and down like a ship at sea. |
| fig. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. v. ii. (1872) II. 76 The Kaiser's Imperial Ostend East-India Company..made Europe lurch from side to side in a terrific manner. |
2. To move suddenly, unsteadily, and without purpose in any direction, as, e.g. a person staggering.
| 1851 Thackeray Humourists v. (1858) 241 Where the tipsy trainband-man is lurching against the post. 1851 D. G. Mitchell Fresh Gleanings 16 My London beaver..lurched over and fell among them. 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. I. 263 The dogs lurched violently forward. 1879 Howells L. Aroostook ii. 12 These men lurched in their gait with an uncouth heaviness. |