\Lurch\, v. i. [L. lurcare, lurcari.]
To swallow or eat greedily; to devour; hence, to swallow up.
[Obs.]
      Too far off from great cities, which may hinder
      business; too near them, which lurcheth all provisions,
      and maketh everything dear.              --Bacon.

\Lurch\, 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.
2. A double score in cribbage for the winner when his
   adversary has been left in the lurch.
         Lady --- has cried her eyes out on losing a lurch.
                                               --Walpole.
{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.
             But though thou'rt of a different church, I will
             not leave thee in the lurch.      --Hudibras.

\Lurch\, v. t.
1. To leave in the lurch; to cheat. [Obs.]
         Never deceive or lurch the sincere communicant.
                                               --South.
2. To steal; to rob. [Obs.]
         And in the brunt of seventeen battles since He
         lurched all swords of the garland.    --Shak.

\Lurch\, 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.

\Lurch\, 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.

\Lurch\, v. i. [A variant of lurk.]
1. To withdraw to one side, or to a private place; to lurk.
   --L'Estrange.
2. To dodge; to shift; to play tricks.
         I . . . am fain to shuffle, to hedge, and to lurch.
                                               --Shak.