Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1500-1600
Language: Old French
Origin: sourge-, the stem of sourdre 'to rise, surge', from Latin surgere 'to go right up, rise', from sub- 'up' + regere 'to lead straight'

surge

1 verb
     
surge1 [intransitive]
1 [always + adverb/preposition] to suddenly move very quickly in a particular direction
surge forward/through etc
The taxi surged forward.
The crowd surged through the gates.
2 also surge up if a feeling surges or surges up, you begin to feel it very strongly:
She could feel anger surging inside her.
3 [usually + adverb/preposition] if a large amount of a liquid, electricity, chemical etc surges, it moves very quickly and suddenly:
A wave surged up towards them.
Adrenalin surged through her veins.
4 to suddenly increase [= shoot up]:
Oil prices surged.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary