LUNGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does lunge mean? 

• LUNGE (noun)
  The noun LUNGE has 2 senses:

1. the act of moving forward suddenly

2. (fencing) an attacking thrust made with one foot forward and the back leg straight and with the sword arm outstretched forward

  Familiarity information: LUNGE used as a noun is rare.

• LUNGE (verb)
  The verb LUNGE has 1 sense:

1. make a thrusting forward movement

  Familiarity information: LUNGE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LUNGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of moving forward suddenly

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

lunge; lurch

Hypernyms ("lunge" is a kind of...):

motion; move; movement (the act of changing location from one place to another)

Derivation:

lunge (make a thrusting forward movement)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(fencing) an attacking thrust made with one foot forward and the back leg straight and with the sword arm outstretched forward

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

lunge; passado; straight thrust

Hypernyms ("lunge" is a kind of...):

knife thrust; stab; thrust (a strong blow with a knife or other sharp pointed instrument)

Meronyms (parts of "lunge"):

remise ((fencing) a second thrust made on the same lunge (as when your opponent fails to riposte))

Domain category:

fencing (the art or sport of fighting with swords (especially the use of foils or epees or sabres to score points under a set of rules))

• LUNGE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they lunge    ... he / she / it lunges   
Past simple: lunged   
Past participle: lunged   
-ing form: lunging   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a thrusting forward movement

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

hurl; hurtle; lunge; thrust

Hypernyms (to "lunge" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "lunge"):

dart (move with sudden speed)

riposte (make a return thrust)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

lunge (the act of moving forward suddenly)

lunger (someone who moves forward suddenly (as in fencing))

 Context examples 

But now he was tied with a chain that defied his teeth, and he strove in vain, by lunging, to draw the staple from the timber into which it was driven.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

He still held the wheel, and I felt that he was timing Time, reckoning the passage of the minutes with each forward lunge and leeward roll of the Ghost.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Buck threw himself forward, tightening the traces with a jarring lunge.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

He walked at the other's heels with a swing to his shoulders, and his legs spread unwittingly, as if the level floors were tilting up and sinking down to the heave and lunge of the sea.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Oofty-Oofty took a turn on a bitt, the rope tautened, and the Ghost, lunging onward, jerked the cook to the surface.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

One Ear was uttering quick, eager whines, lunging at the length of his stick toward the darkness, and desisting now and again in order to make frantic attacks on the stick with his teeth.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

As it passed, Wolf Larsen began to speak, the bare-headed men swaying in unison, to the heave and lunge of the deck.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

To throw one’s whole strength and weight on the oars and to feel the boat checked in its forward lunge by the heavy drag behind, was not exactly exhilarating.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)