surf — English Dictionary

Noun

1. Waves that break on an ocean shoreline.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   More examples (2)

   […] perhaps it was the look of the island, with its gray, melancholy woods, and wild stone spires, and the surf that we could both see and hear foaming and thundering on the steep beach […]

   'But when the surf fell enough for the boats to get ashore, and Greening held a lantern for me to jump down into the passage, after we had got the side out of the tomb, the first thing the light fell on at the bottom was a white face turned skyward.

   It was alone, nervously alighting and flying short distances along the surf.

   In most instances the inshore holes or pockets along the surf do not produce as well as the cuts or sloughs between sand bars.

   More examples (1)

   Snook are found in rivers, canals, inlets and along the surf, especially around sand bars, tidal rips, jetties, bridges and piers.

2. An instance or session of riding a surfboard in the surf.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   We went for a surf this morning.

3. A dance popular in the 1960s in which the movements of a surfboard rider are mimicked.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   She [...] loves to cook, sew and dance. She's up on all the latest steps like the frug, the hully-gully and the surf.

4. The bottom of a drain.

   Usage

   • UK usage
   • Countable
   • dialectal
   • Uncountable

Verb

1. To ride a wave on a surfboard; to pursue or take part in the sport of surfing.

2. To surf at a specified place.

3. To bodysurf; to swim in the surf at a beach.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Such diversion as Podson could extort from his isolation was soon vitiated by repetition. He surfed. He sun-baked - with discretion till his skin had peeled and given him a harder cuticle.

4. To browse the Internet, television, etc.

   Usage

   • Transitive or intransitive

Noun

1. waves breaking on the shore

   Synonyms

   breakerbreakers

   Broader terms

   wavemoving ridge

Verb

1. ride the waves of the sea with a surfboard

   Synonyms

   surfboard

   Broader terms

   glide

   Examples

   Californians love to surf

2. look around casually and randomly, without seeking anything in particular

   Synonyms

   browse

   Broader terms

   searchseeklook for

   Examples

   browse a computer directory

   surf the internet or the world wide web

3. switch channels, on television

   Synonyms

   channel-surf

   Broader terms

   switchshiftchange