Link Centre Dictionary

surf

UK/sʌɹf/ US/sɜːf/ fairly common uk
noun (1) verb (3)

noun

1.

waves breaking on the shore

Synonyms

verb

1.

ride the waves of the sea with a surfboard

  • “Californians love to surf”
2.

look around casually and randomly, without seeking anything in particular

  • “browse a computer directory”
  • “surf the internet or the world wide web”
Synonyms
3.

Origin

Probably from earlier suff, suffe (“the inrush of the sea towards the shore”), possibly from Middle English suffe. Compare sough, surf (“a gutter, drain, sewer, trench”) and sough (“a soothing, gentle, murmuring sound of wind or water”). Alternatively, possibly of Indo-Aryan origin, as the word was formerly a reference to the coast of India, though this is doubtful as no positive etymon can be identified. The verb is from 1917. The verb referring to "browsing the Internet" was popularized by Jean Armour Polly.

Phrases

  • bed surf
  • couch surf
  • counter surf
  • shoulder surf
  • side surf
  • silver surfer
  • sofa surf
  • surf and turf
  • Surf Beach
  • surf boat
  • surf carnival
  • surf cast

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.