surf

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“
The worst of the surf was abreast of their quarter now, and less-troubled water stretched away ahead.

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Definitions (15)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. noun The waves of the sea as they break upon a shore or reef.
  2. intransitive verb To engage in surfing.
  3. intransitive verb Informal To look at a variety of things casually, especially while browsing the Internet or television channels.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (50)

  • The wind chilled him; the concatenations of the surf were assaultive in their loudness, affecting his nerves. —  F ;SF; - vol 103 issue 04-05 - October-November 2002
  • In that kind of surf, a badly bruised corpse is the rule, not the exception. —  The Beach House
  • The back of the surf is that part of the roadstead lying immediately beyond the place where the first indication is given of the tendency in the swell to rise into a wave; and no boat not expressly fitted for the purpose ever goes nearer to the shore, but lies off till the “bar-boat” makes her way through the surf, and lays herself alongside the ship's boat. —  The Lieutenant and Commander
  • During all this while, the experienced eye of the veteran skipper abaft glances backwards and forwards from the swell rolling in from the open sea, to the surf which is breaking close to him. —  The Lieutenant and Commander
  • We went ashore in the gig to bring them off with their baggage, and found them waiting on the beach, and a little afraid about going off, as the surf was running very high. —  Two Years Before the Mast
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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Origin unknown.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. An altered form (scarcely found before the 18th century, and prob. simulating surge) of suff (early modern English suffe, Scots souf), a phonetic spelling of sough, orig. a rushing sound: see sough. The proposed derivation from Old French stirflot, the rising of billow upon billow, is untenable. Cf. surf for sough.
  2. An altered form of suff for sough: see sough. Cf. surf for sough.
 

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/sərf/
by American Heritage
by Steve de Brun
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