▪ I. surge, n.
(sɜːdʒ)
Forms: 5–7 sourge, (6 sowrge, shourge, pl. surgies, 7 surdge, syrge), 6– surge.
[Of obscure origin. In the earliest examples (sense 1 a, b) transl. OF. sourgeon (mod.F. surgeon), f. sourge-, pres. stem of sourdre:—L. surgĕre to rise. In senses 3, 4 f. surge v.]
† 1. a. A fountain, stream. Obs.
| 1490 Caxton Eneydos iv. 18 The whiche trees, soo cutte..yssued oute..a sourge [orig. vne sourgon] of blacke bloode droppynge doun to the erthe. Ibid. vi. 26 [Her eyes] seemed two grete sourges [orig. sourions] wellynge vp grete affluence of teerys. 1538 Elyot Scatebræ, the bollynge or rysynge vppe of water out of a spryng or sourges of water. 1567 Turberv. Epit. etc., Louer to his carefull Bed 24 Thus with a surge of teares bedewde (O bed) I thee forsake. |
† b. The source of a river or other water. Also fig. Obs.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. i. 1 All great ryuers are..assemblede of diuers surges [orig. surgeons] and sprynges of water. 1587 Harrison England i. xi. in Holinshed I. 48/1 Charwell..issueth so fast at the verie surge, that it groweth into a pretie streame, in maner out of hand. Ibid. ii. xxi. 211/1 Yet is the surge of that water alwaies seuen foot from the salt sea. 1588 Allen Admon. 4 The nexte immediate surge of our sores. |
2. a. A high rolling swell of water, esp. on the sea; a large, heavy, or violent wave; a billow.
In this use and in b, chiefly poetic or rhetorical.
| 1530 Palsgr. 278/2 Surge of the see, uague. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe ii. xiv. (1539) 31 b, The beste fyshe..is tossed and lyfte vp with wyndes and sourges. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 277 The sea was..vnquieted with surgies and monsters. 1558 Bp. Watson Seven Sacram. xiv. 87 To haue a mans shyppe drowned at once wyth one greate sourge and waue of the sea. 1625 N. Carpenter Geogr. Delin. ii. ii. (1635) 20 The Sea is euerywhere plaine and like it selfe, except the rising of the waues and surges. 1673 Dryden Marr. à la Mode ii. i, As open to the gusts of passion, As the bare shore to every beating surge. 1726–46 Thomson Winter 162 The mountain-billows..surge above surge, Burst into chaos with tremendous roar. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxv, All this time the sea was rolling in immense surges. 1861 Tennyson Sailor Boy 9 The sands and yeasty surges mix In caves about the dreary bay. 1885 Athenæum 23 May 669/3 A noble sea view..where grand surges move in ranks..till they beat furiously on the shore. |
b. Such waves or billows collectively; the rising or driving swell of the sea.
| 1567 Turberv. Epit., etc., To the rayling Rout of Sycophants 7 Such as earst in cutting of the Surge..Bode bitter blast and scornefull Neptunes scurge. 1624 Capt. J. Smith Virginia i. 2 The very surge of the Sea sometimes overflowed them. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3845/2 Some Boats were overset by the Surge of the Sea, it blowing them very fresh. 1749 Smollett Regicide iv. iii, Thy specious words Shall sooner lull the sounding surge. 1771 Franklin Autobiog. Wks. 1840 I. 30 It was in a place where there could be no landing, there being a great surge on the beach. 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho! vi, Laced with white foam from the eternal surge. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) I. vii. 238 As we were just clearing the rock, the bow came obliquely to the surge. |
c. fig. (or, more freq., in fig. context) in reference to feelings, influences, actions, events, etc.: Impetuous onset or agitated movement. Also, a rapid increase in price, activity, etc., esp. over a short period.
| 1520 Whitinton Vulg. (1527) 21 He is moost moderate and studyous to auoyde surges of his passyon. 1534 More Comf. agst. Trib. i. Wks. 1140/1 To..strength the walles of our heartes agaynst the gret sourges of this tempesteous sea. 1540 Morysine Vives' Introd. Wysd. Pref. A v, Men assauted with the surges of sower fortune. 1550 Bale Engl. Votaries ii. K viij, Peters litle ship..was very like..to be ouer rowne & drouned, the shourges of scismatikes & of heretikes wer so great. 1583 H. Howard Defensative R ij, Sometyme floting in the surges of mishap. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. ii, They have opened all his rotten parts Unto the vaunting surge of base contempt. 1682 Tate Abs. & Achit. ii. 1132 This year did Ziloah Rule Jerusalem, And boldly all Sedition's Syrges stem. 1807 Byron Hours Idleness, Medea of Euripides i, What mind can stem the stormy surge Which rolls the tide of human woe? 1834 H. Miller Scenes & Leg. v. (1857) 55 The observances of the old system were effaced..by the hasty surges of popular resentment. 1841–4 Emerson Ess., Over-Soul Wks. (Bohn) I. 117 It is an ebb of the individual rivulet before the flowing surges of the sea of life. 1890 Spectator 29 Mar., No surge of public opinion would have saved them from the gallows. 1964 Ann. Reg. 1963 191 The final deficit for the fiscal year which ended on 30 June 1963 was $6,200 million, largely because of the surge in business spending and improved tax collection. 1976 Yellowstone Explorer July 7/2 The surge in the use of back-country areas is certainly as true here in Yellowstone as it is in other wild places across the country. 1980 N.Y. Times 18 Nov. b7/3 The population surge in the Sun Belt has been even greater than expected. |
d. transf. in reference to various physical things, as fire, wind, sound; also to ‘rolling’ or undulating hills or the like.
In Physics, a sudden or irregular change of pressure; a sudden or violent oscillation of electric current.
| 1667 Milton P.L. i. 173 The fiery Surge, that from the Precipice Of Heav'n receiv'd us falling. 1810 Southey Kehama xxiii. x, The smoke and vapours of all Padalon..were spread, With surge and swell, and everlasting motion. 1863 J. R. Green Lett. (1901) 117 On the low surge of hills that close the horizon, is the house. 1865 Baring-Gould Werewolves xiii. 233 The surge of the old Gregorian tone. 1869 Lowell Cathedral 69 The surges of the warm south-west. 1887 Abercromby Weather v. 167 When we look at a series of these surges [of atmospheric pressure] we find a decided tendency of the motion to travel from west to east, or from south-west to north-east. 1908 Times 3 Oct. 12/6 The ‘surge’ of the high-tension current caused some control switches to fuse. 1911 W. N. Shaw Forecasting Weather iii. 72 The last of the charts to represent the classification of isobars..are selected to show what Abercromby calls ‘surge’—that is to say, a general alteration of pressure that seems to be superposed upon the changes related to a low pressure centre. 1936 Discovery Sept. 289/2 It is thus possible to study the passage of ‘surges’ travelling along the mission line at 186,000 miles a second. 1973 Physics Bull. Mar. 148/3 The high voltage cathode-ray oscillograph..was used to detect lightning discharges and other electrical surges in high voltage transmission lines. 1979 Time 8 Jan. 80/3 That includes..keeping a weather-eye on cold surges (masses of low-temperature air moving rapidly down from Siberia). |
3. Naut., etc. The slipping back of a rope or chain wound round a capstan, etc.; more generally, a sudden jerk or strain.
| 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. i. 112 With our utmost efforts, and with many surges and some purchases we made use of to encrease our power. 1805 A. Duncan Mariner's Chron. IV. 109 At eleven o'clock, a fatal swell gave the ship a sudden shock: she gave a surge, and sunk almost instantaneously. 1849 Cupples Green Hand viii. (1856) 76 Till the ‘cleets’ brought him up with a ‘surge’ fit to have parted the line. 1860 Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 180 They might have seen or heard a surge of the cable. 1869 Rankine Machine & Hand-tools Pl. O 2, Jerks or surges are entirely avoided. |
4. Naut. The part of a capstan or windlass upon which the rope surges.
| 1664 E. Bushnell Compl. Shipwright 67 A..Windless, with a Surdge in the middle, as is the Surdge of a Crab, or Capstane. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 154 Surge, the tapered part of the whelps, between the chocks of the capstan, upon which..the messenger may surge itself without any incumbrance. |
5. Naut. A rhythmic motion forward and aft that is in addition to any steady speed of the vessel.
| 1949 K. C. Barnaby Basic Naval Archit. xvii. 255 A very uneven drive, such as that given by a single-cylinder paddle-wheel engine, will cause a perceptible surge. 1968 F. N. Spiess in J. F. Brahtz Ocean Engin. xv. 566 Stability against horizontal oscillatory motion (surge and sway) and against roll and pitch can chiefly be achieved by providing horizontal extent comparable to or greater than a wavelength. 1977 Offshore Engineer May 44/3 During these tests, the data acquisition system recorded..surge, sway and yaw of the lay barge. |
6. attrib. and Comb., as surge-crest, surge-voice; surge-beat(en adj.; surge chamber, tank Civil Engin., a chamber (often open to the air) connected by a T-junction to a water pipe so as to absorb surges of pressure by filling and drops in pressure by emptying; surge voltage Electr., the peak voltage produced in a transmission line by an electrical surge.
| 1852 M. Arnold Tristram & Iseult i. 104 The *surge-beat Cornish strand. |
| a 1810 Shelley M. Nicholson's Fragm., Ravaillac 16 The *surge-beaten mould. |
| 1928 Daily Express 10 Oct. 12 The pent-up waters sweep through a narrow tunnel to the *surge chamber of a newly built power-house, driving the turbo-generators. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XVIII. 770/2 To assist regulation with long pipelines, a surge chamber is often connected to the pipeline as near as possible to the turbine, thus enabling part of the water in the pipeline to pass into the surge chamber as the turbine is closed. |
| 1839–52 Bailey Festus 91 In vain they urge their armies to the fight: Their *surge-crests crumble 'neath our stroke of might. |
| 1909 Trans. Amer. Soc. Mech. Engineers XXX. 443 ‘*Surge tank’ is a term applied to a stand pipe or storage reservoir placed at the down-stream end of a closed aqueduct to prevent undue rise of pressure in case of a sudden diminution of draft, and to furnish water quickly when the gates are opened, without having to wait for the velocity in the long feeder to pick up. 1930 Engineering 3 Jan. 19/2 Each divided tunnel is provided with a separate surge tank. 1975 North Sea Background Notes (Brit. Petroleum Co.) 27 Injection water surge tanks, filters and pumps are located on this deck. |
| 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right (1899) 163/2 The whispering *surge-voices. |
| 1904 E. B. Raymond Alternating Current Engin. ii. 76 The *surge voltage is an entirely separate phenomenon from that of resonance. 1979 C. A. Gross Power System Analysis iv. 118 Surge voltages provide the most stringent test and supply the rationale for the standard impulse voltage waveform. |
▪ II. surge, v.
(sɜːdʒ)
Also 6–7 sourge.
[Partly f. OF. sourge- (see prec.), or a. early mod.F. sorgir (F. surgir), = Pr. sorzer, sorgir, It. sorgere, Sp., Pg. surgir, ad. L. surgĕre to rise; partly f. surge n.]
1. intr. To rise and fall or toss on the waves; to ride (at anchor, or along over the waves). † In earliest use, ? to come to anchor; cf. F. surgir, to come to land.
| 1511 Guylforde's Pilgr. (Camden) 71 The same Tewsdaye at nyghte late we surged in y⊇ Rode. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. vii. 7 By force of oares we came surging along..beyond the cape of Matafus. 1588 Greene Pandosto (1607) 13 Since thou must goe to surge in the gastfull waues. 1611 Admiralty Crt. Exam. 8 June 41 The..lighter..made faste to the shippe surging at an anker in the Thames. 1850 B. Taylor Eldorado i. (1862) 2 The mass of spars and rigging drifted at her side, surging drearily on the heavy sea. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., A ship is said to surge on a reef when she rises and falls with the heave of the sea, so as to strike heavily. |
† b. pass. ? To be cast up by the surge. Obs.
| 1581 T. Howell Deuises F iiij b, Twixte death and doubt, still surgde vpon the sande, Stayde vp by hope to light on fyrmer lande. |
† 2. To rise, spring, issue, as a stream from its source, or from underground. Obs.
| 1549 Thomas Hist. Italie 27 It [sc. the Fontana da Trevi] sourgeth vnder the hille called Monte degli hortuli. 1632 Lithgow Trav. ix. 403 The Sulphatara..after an excessiue raine surgeth sixe foote high with blacke boyling water. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Surrey (1662) iii. 79 A River..which at a place called the Swallow, sinketh unto the Earth and surgeth again some two miles off nigh Letherhead. Ibid., Warwick. 125 The river Anas in Spain,..having run many miles under ground, surgeth a greater channell then before. |
† b. gen. To rise, ascend, mount. Obs. rare.
| a 1591 H. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 480 Till lust, as lighter, up doth surge. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 196 The Mountains Imaus, which towards the North surge more and more to an incomprehensible height. |
3. To rise in great waves or billows, as the sea; to swell or heave with great force, as a large wave; to move tempestuously.
| 1566 [see surging ppl. a.]. 1570 Levins Manip. 224/25 To sourge, fluctuare. 1586 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 298 The waues of the sea..either surged tempestuouslye or calmed quietlye according to his pleasure. 1851 ‘Wrangler’ (J. B. Hume) Poems early Years, Diver vi, It [sc. the abyss] seethes and it surges and hisses and raves, As when water by fire is cross'd. 1862 M. Hopkins Hawaii 12 Giddy precipices..against whose walls the waves beat, and surge. 1865 Kingsley Herew. vi, The sea boiled past them, surged into the waist, blinded them with spray. 1869 Phillips Vesuv. iv. 115 The lava surged, not flowed, over, as angry waves do over a sandy bar. |
b. transf. of a crowd of people, a wind, etc.
In Physics, to vary or oscillate suddenly or violently, as a pressure or an electric current.
| 1845 Hirst Com. Mammoth etc. 14 Their forms had gone O'er the far forests, surging on. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia xxvi, The mob pressed onward from behind, surged up almost to the barrier. 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities ii. i, He..began to roll and surge in bed. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xvi. 115 The wind surging with the full deep boom of the distant sea against the precipice. a 1862 Buckle Civiliz. (1864) II. v. 409 To hear of such things is enough to make one's blood surge again. 1887 Abercromby Weather v. 166 Sometimes filling up of a cyclone is tolerably local; other times surging is on an enormous scale. 1891 Conan Doyle White Company xxxv, From below there surged up the buzz of voices. 1894 Ld. Wolseley Life Marlborough I. 4 The civil wars, which about 1642, began to surge westward into Somerset and Devon. |
c. fig., chiefly surge up, of feelings, thoughts, etc.
| 1853 C. Brontë Villette x, Something..that brought surging up into the mind all one's foibles and weak points. 1877 Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. xv. 375 All the enthusiasm of old surged up to answer this appeal. 1883 Contemp. Rev. June 768 What rival claims and pretensions have already surged up. 1908 R. Bagot A. Cuthbert xxiii. 309 Her mind was working rapidly, and, indeed, she was scarcely able to disentangle ideas which surged through it. |
4. trans. To cause to move in, or as in, swelling waves or billows; to drive with waves.
| 1607 T. Walkington Optic Glass iv. (1664) 50 Wine..calms the roughest tempest of whatsoever more vehement Imagination sourgeth in any man. 1862 Thornbury Turner I. 313 The..monster..hurls rocks at the departing vessel that..surge it back again towards the shore. 1873 Lowell Parable, ‘Said Christ Our Lord’ iv, Great organs surged through arches dim Their jubilant floods in praise of Him. |
5. Naut., etc. a. intr. To slip back accidentally, as a rope or chain round a capstan, windlass, etc.; to slip round without moving onwards, as a wheel.
| a 1625 Nomenclator Navalis (Harl. MS. 2301) 139 When they heave at the Capstaine and the Caboll slips back againe they say the Cabell surges. 1627 Capt. J. Smith Sea Gram. ix. 44 If it [sc. the cable] be..slimie with ose, it surges or slips backe vnlesse they keep it close to the whelps. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxiv, The chain surged so as almost to unship the barrel of the windlass. 1862 Nares Seamanship 87 Surging, the hawser slipping up the barrel of a capstan, or veering out the cable suddenly. 1882 Hedley Inventor Railw. Locomotion 59 It had been always thought that engine-wheels on a smooth surface would ‘surge’ or slip round without advancing. |
b. trans. To let go or slacken suddenly (a rope wound round a capstan, etc.); also with the capstan, etc. as obj. Also absol.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Choquer la tournevire, to surge the capstern. Ibid., Dévirer le cable, to surge the cable about the capstern or windlass, in order to prevent it from riding, with one part over another. 1850 Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. ix. (1858) 120 The line would be ‘surged’, or slacked out. 1853 in Kane Arctic Expl. (1856) I. vii. 70 It's blowing the devil himself, and I am afraid to surge. 1862 Nares Seamanship 146 Secure the hawser for surging the topmast to start the crosstrees off the mast-head. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Surge Ho!, the notice given when a rope or cable is to be surged. |
c. intr. Of a ship: To sweep, pull, or jerk in a certain direction. Also transf.
| 1839 Darwin Voy. Nat. x. (1852) 212 Every now and then, a puff from the mountains, which made the ship surge at her anchors. 1849 Cupples Green Hand xiv. (1856) 144 Jove! how she [the ship] surged to it. 1856 Kane Arctic Expl. I. xxvi. 338 The brig surged and righted. 1895 Outing (U.S.) XXVI. 358/1 The fish surges and the rod bends alarmingly. |
▪ III. surge
obs. form of cierge, serge.