LURK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does lurk mean? 

• LURK (verb)
  The verb LURK has 3 senses:

1. lie in wait, lie in ambush, behave in a sneaky and secretive manner

2. be about

3. wait in hiding to attack

  Familiarity information: LURK used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LURK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they lurk    ... he / she / it lurks   
Past simple: lurked   
Past participle: lurked   
-ing form: lurking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lie in wait, lie in ambush, behave in a sneaky and secretive manner

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

lurk; skulk

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

conceal; hide (prevent from being seen or discovered)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

lurker (someone waiting in concealment)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be about

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

footle; hang around; lallygag; linger; loaf; loiter; lollygag; lounge; lurk; mess about; mill about; mill around; tarry

Context example:

Who is this man that is hanging around the department?

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

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

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

lurch; prowl (loiter about, with no apparent aim)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Wait in hiding to attack

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

ambuscade; ambush; bushwhack; lie in wait; lurk; scupper; waylay

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

wait (stay in one place and anticipate or expect something)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

lurker (someone waiting in concealment)

 Context examples 

It was the trap, ever the trap, the fear of it lurking deep in the life of him, woven into the fibre of him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

WISSARD has provided a glimpse of the nature of microbial life that may lurk under more than 5 million square miles of ice sheet.

(800 meters beneath Antarctic ice sheet, subglacial lake holds viable microbial ecosystems, NSF)

Monster black holes sometimes lurk behind gas and dust, hiding from the gaze of most telescopes.

(Black Holes Hide in Our Cosmic Backyard, NASA)

Well, now, let us see where this rat has been lurking.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He fled to his stateroom, where he lurked until the steamer was clear of the dock.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

What I cannot describe is, how, in the innermost recesses of my own heart, I had a lurking jealousy even of Death.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The targeted supermassive black hole is hidden in plain sight, lurking in the center of the Milky Way in a region called the Sagittarius constellation, some 26,000 light years from Earth.

(Astronomers Piece Together First Image of Black Hole, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

I was now, it seemed, cut off upon both sides; behind me the murderers, before me this lurking nondescript.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I feel that there is reason lurking in you somewhere, so we will patiently grope round for it.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Ay truly, I believe you; I believe poor Harry is killed; and I believe his murderer (for what purpose, God alone can tell) is still lurking in his victim’s room.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)