SURGE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Surge

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/sərdʒ/ Listen

noun

Surge n.

A spring; a fountain. (Obs.) "Divers surges and springs of water."

A large wave or billow; a great, rolling swell of water, produced generally by a high wind. "He that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed." "He flies aloft, and, with impetuous roar, Pursues the foaming surges to the shore."

The motion of, or produced by, a great wave.

The tapered part of a windlass barrel or a capstan, upon which the cable surges, or slips.

verb

Surge v. t. (past & past part. surged; pres. part. surging) (Naut.) To let go or slacken suddenly, as a rope; as, to surge a hawser or messenger; also, to slacken the rope about (a capstan).

Surge v. i.

To swell; to rise hifg and roll. "The surging waters like a mountain rise."

(Naut.) To slip along a windlass.

See images of 'Surge'

Etymology of 'Surge'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar

"Surge" Quotes from Famous Books

... as if Graham had kissed her, he pondered. It was Paula who had kissed Graham. That was love, and passion. He had seen it, and as it burned again before his eyes, he felt his heart surge, and the premonitory sensation of suffocation seized him. With a sharp effort of will he controlled himself and got to ...

— The Little Lady of the Big House • Jack London

... Niagara. In the mean time it is easy enough to go down, and the ladies go down every day, taking their novels or their needle-work with them. They have various notions of a bath: some conceive that it is bathing to sit in the edge of the water, and emit shrieks as the surge sweeps against them; others run boldly in, and after a moment of poignant hesitation jump up and down half-a-dozen times, and run out; yet others imagine it better to remain immersed to the chin for a given space, looking toward the ...

— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... water was near that of the land; there were occasional rapids, but few rocks, and the foaming torrent moved at great speed, the red sandstone banks of the river being as polished as though they had been waxed. After a while the obstructions disappeared, but the water continued to rush and surge along at a speed of ten or twelve miles an hour, so that it would be easily navigable only for logs or objects moving in one direction. The surface of the river was soon on an average fifty feet below the edge of the banks, this depression being one result of the water's rapid motion ...

— A Journey in Other Worlds • J. J. Astor

... corvette move through the water. The sails were wetted, the hammocks were piped down, and the watch were ordered to turn in, with a couple of round shot with each, under the idea that as the hammocks swung forward with the surge of the ship, her ...

— From Powder Monkey to Admiral - A Story of Naval Adventure • W.H.G. Kingston

... moment, every thing—sky—water—sheet—shroud and spar are glowing with a brilliancy that exceedeth the brightness of day—the sky is a broad canopy of golden radiance, and the waves are crested with a red and fiery surge, that reminds you of your conception of the "lake of burning fire and brimstone." We feel the dread—the vast sublimity of the breathless moment, and while the mighty thoughts and tumultuous conceptions are striving for form and order of utterance within our throbbing breasts—again ...

— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 2 August 1848 • Various

More quotes...