Meaning
5 sensesA sudden or unsteady movement.
the lurch of a ship, or of a drunkard
Schlingern, Ruck
рыво́кryvók
an unsteady uneven gait
(dialectal)A lift or heave.
(countable, uncountable)A predicament or difficult situation.
to leave someone in the lurch
(countable, uncountable)An old game played with dice and counters; a variety of the game of tables.
(countable, uncountable)A double score in cribbage for the winner when their adversary has not yet pegged their 31st hole.
August 14, 1784, Horace Walpole, letter to the Hon. H. S. Conway Lady Blandford has cried her eyes out on losing a lurch.
Examples
18 sentencesHe left me in the lurch.
Він кинув мене у важкій ситуації. — deniko
ruОн бросил меня в беде. — odexed
deEr ließ mich im Stich. — Yorwba
The train lurched to a standstill.
ruПоезд рывком остановился. — corvard
deDer Zug kam mit einem Ruck zum Stehen. — al_ex_an_der
Judit left us in the lurch.
deJudit ließ uns im Stich. — Yorwba
The car lurched to the side.
Mike left his brother in the lurch.
Translations
5 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
Originally a nautical term, found in lee-larches (“the sudden and violent rolls of a shipOriginally a nautical term, found in lee-larches (“the sudden and violent rolls of a ship to the leeward in high seas”), of unknown origin. Possibly the same as lurch (“to move stealthily, evade by stooping”) (see below), or from French lâcher (“to let go”).
From Middle English lorchen, variant of Middle English lurken (“to lurk”). More at lurk.
From Middle English *lurche (implied in derivative lurching), from Old French lourche (“deceived, embarrassed; also the name of a game”), from Proto-West Germanic *lort (“left; left-handed; crooked; bent; warped; underhanded; deceitful; limping”). Cognate to English lirt.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.