lurch

«lurch» in Mova's school dictionary: To move suddenly and unsteadily, like a bus that jolts or… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (lurch, lurches, lurched, lurching); noun (a lurch, lurches)

meaning for a pupil

1) (verb) To move suddenly and unsteadily, like a bus that jolts or a person who nearly falls. tree →

2) (noun) A sudden jerky movement. tree →

3) (leave someone in the lurch) To leave someone alone when they need help. tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories: the ship lurched in the storm, the zombie lurched forward — the word tells the reader the movement was sudden and clumsy. In everyday life «My stomach lurched» means a sudden scary feeling. Phrases: «lurch forward», «with a lurch», «leave someone in the lurch».

examples

• The bus lurched forward and I grabbed the rail. tree →
• The ship lurched in the huge waves. tree →
• My stomach lurched when I saw how high we were. tree →
• The car stopped with a lurch. tree →
• He lurched across the room half asleep. tree →
• Don't leave your partner in the lurch — finish your part of the project. tree →
• At that moment the ship gave a great lurch forward into the waves. tree →

note

Verb: lurched, lurching; plural noun: lurches. Similar: jolt, jerk, stagger. «Leave in the lurch» is an idiom; it has nothing to do with movement.

In the corpora

• When a bus or car brakes suddenly, the people inside lurch forward.
• When a car brakes, your body keeps moving forward; when it turns sharply, you lurch outwards.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «lurch» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.