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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A double score in cribbage for the winner when his adversary has been left in the lurch. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lady --- has cried her eyes out on losing a lurch. Walpole. [ 1913 Webster ]

To leave one in the lurch. (a) In the game of cribbage, to leave one's adversary so far behind that the game is won before he has scored thirty-one. (b) To leave one behind; hence, to abandon, or fail to stand by, a person in a difficulty. Denham. [ 1913 Webster ] But though thou'rt of a different church,
I will not leave thee in the lurch. Hudibras. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ A variant of lurk. ] 1. To withdraw to one side, or to a private place; to lurk. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To dodge; to shift; to play tricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

I . . . am fain to shuffle, to hedge, and to lurch. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To leave in the lurch; to cheat. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Never deceive or lurch the sincere communicant. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To steal; to rob. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And in the brunt of seventeen battles since
He lurched all swords of the garland. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Lurched 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. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

v. i. [ L. lurcare, lurcari. ] To swallow or eat greedily; to devour; hence, to swallow up. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Too far off from great cities, which may hinder business; too near them, which lurcheth all provisions, and maketh everything dear. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. lurco, lurcho, a glutton. See 1st Lurch. ] A glutton; a gormandizer. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Lurch to lurk. ] 1. One that lurches or lies in wait; one who watches to pilfer, or to betray or entrap; one who lurks; a lurker; a poacher. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

2. (Zool.) One of a mongrel breed of dogs said to have been a cross between the sheep dog, greyhound, and spaniel. It hunts game silently, by scent, and is often used by poachers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The line by which a fowling net was pulled over so as to inclose the birds. [ 1913 Webster ]