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Lurk

//lɜːk// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of lurking.

    "At two p.m. a man had called on him, and had produced one of his advertisements, and had asked him if that was all square—no bobbies on the lurk."

  2. 2
    A swindle. Australia, UK, obsolete, slang
Verb
  1. 1
    To remain concealed in order to ambush.

    "Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee."

  2. 2
    wait in hiding to attack wordnet
  3. 3
    To remain unobserved.

    "Thus my plight was evil indeed, for I had nothing now to burn to give me light, and knew that 'twas no use setting to grout till I could see to go about it. Moreover, the darkness was of that black kind that is never found beneath the open sky, no, not even on the darkest night, but lurks in close and covered places and strains the eyes in trying to see into it."

  4. 4
    to monitor a web forum or similar without making your presence public wordnet
  5. 5
    To hang out or wait around a location, preferably without drawing attention to oneself.

    "if we find the sophist lurking, we must round him up by royal command of the argument"

Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    be about a place without any apparent purpose wordnet
  2. 7
    To read an Internet forum without posting comments or making one's presence apparent. Internet
  3. 8
    lie in wait, lie in ambush, behave in a sneaky and secretive manner wordnet
  4. 9
    To saddle (a person) with an undesirable task or duty. UK, slang, transitive

    "As junior dogsbody, he was lurked with this mission."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English lurken, from Old Norse *lúrka, possibly from Proto-Germanic *lūrukōną (“to be lying in wait, lurk”), equivalent to lour + -k (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk lurka (“to sneak away, go slowly”), dialectal Swedish lurka (“to dawdle, be slow in one's work”), Saterland Frisian lüürkje (“to look secretly, spy”), West Frisian luorkje (“to lurk”), Middle Low German lûrken (“to deceitfully stalk”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English lurken, from Old Norse *lúrka, possibly from Proto-Germanic *lūrukōną (“to be lying in wait, lurk”), equivalent to lour + -k (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk lurka (“to sneak away, go slowly”), dialectal Swedish lurka (“to dawdle, be slow in one's work”), Saterland Frisian lüürkje (“to look secretly, spy”), West Frisian luorkje (“to lurk”), Middle Low German lûrken (“to deceitfully stalk”).

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