Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SUR'CLE, n. [L. surculus.]

A little shoot; a twig; a sucker.

SUR'COAT, n. [Fr. sur and Eng. coat.]

A short coat worn over the other clothes. – Camden.

SUR'CREW, n. [sur and crew.]

Additional crew or collection. [Not in use.] – Wotton.

SUR'CU-LATE, v.t. [L. surculo.]

To prune. [Not in use.]

SUR-CU-LA'TION, n.

The act of pruning. [Not in use.] – Brown.

SURD, a. [L. surdus, deaf.]

1. Deaf; not having the sense of bearing. [Not used.]
2. Unheard. [Not used.]
3. Designating a quantity whose root can not be exactly expressed in numbers.

SURD, n.

In algebra, a quantity whose root can not be exactly expressed in numbers. Thus 2 is a surd number, because there is no number which multiplied into itself, will exactly produce 2.

SURD'I-TY, n.

Deafness. [Not used.]

SURE, a. [shure; Fr. sûr, seur; Arm. sur; Norm. seor, seur. In G. zwar signifies indeed, to be sure, it is true; which leads me to suspect sure to be contracted from the root of sever, in L. assevero, and to be connected with swear and perhaps with L. verus; s being the remains of a prefix. But sure may be a contraction of L. securus.]

1. Certain; unfailing; infallible The testimony of the Lord is sure. – Ps. xix. We have also a more sure word of prophecy. – 2 Pet i.
2. Certainly knowing; or having full confidence. We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth. – Rom. ii. Now we are sure that thou knowest all things. – John xvi.
3. Certain; safe; firm; permanent. Thy kingdom shall be sure to thee. – Dan. iv.
4. Firm; stable; steady; not liable to failure, loss or change; as, a sure covenant. – 2 Sam. xxiii. Neh. ix. Is. xxviii. The Lord will make my lord a sure house. – 1 Sam. xxv. So we say, to stand sure, to be sure of foot.
5. Certain of obtaining or of retaining; as, to be sure of game; to be sure of success; to be sure of life or health.
6. Strong; secure; not liable to be broken or disturbed. Go your way, make it as sure as ye can. – Matth. xxvii.
7. Certain; not liable to failure. The income is sure. To be sure, or be sure, certainly. Shall you go? be sure I shall. To make sure, to make certain; to secure so that there can be no failure of the purpose or object. Make sure of Cato. – Addison. A peace can not fail, provided we make sure of Spain. – Temple. Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure. – 2 Pet. i.

SURE, adv.

Certainly; without doubt; doubtless. Sure the queen would wish him still unknown. – Smith. [But in this sense, surely is more generally used.]

SURE-FOOT'ED, a. [sure and foot.]

Not liable to stumble or fall; as, a surefooted horse.

SURE-LY, adv.

1. Certainly; infallibly; undoubtedly. In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. – Gen. ii. He that created something out of nothing, surely can raise great things out of small. – South.
2. Firmly; without danger of falling. He that walketh uprightly, walketh surely. – Prov. x.

SURE-NESS, n.

Certainty. For more sureness he repeats it. [Little used.] – Woodward.

SURE-TI-SHIP, n. [from surety.]

The state of being surety; the obligation of a person to answer for another, and make good any debt or loss which may occur from another's delinquency. He that hateth suretiship is sure. – Prov. xi.

SURE-TY, n. [Fr. sureté.]

1. Certainty; indubitableness. Know of a surety, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs. – Gen. xv.
2. Security; safety. Yet for the more surely they looked round about. – Sidney.
3. Foundation of stability; support. We our state / Hold, as you yours, while our obedience holds; / On other surety none. – Milton.
4. Evidence; ratification; confirmation. She call'd the saints to surety, / That she would never put it from her finger, / Unless she gave it to yourself. – Shak.
5. Security against lose or damage; security for payment. There remains unpaid / A hundred thousand more, in surety of the which / One part of Aquitain is bound to us. – Shak.
6. In law, one that is bound with and for another; one who enters into a bond or recognizance to answer for another's appearance in court, or for his payment of a debt or for the performance of some act, and who, in case of the principal debtor's failure, is compellable to pay the debt or damages; a bondsman; a bail. He that is surely for a stranger, shall smart for it. – Prov. xi. Thy servant became surety for the lad to my father. – Gen. xliv.
7. In Scripture, Christ is called, “the surety of a better testament.” Heb. vii. 22. He undertook to make atonement for the sins of men, and thus prepare the way to deliver them from the punishment to which they had rendered themselves liable.
8. A hostage.

SURF, n.

1. The swell of the sea which breaks upon the shore, or upon sand banks or rocks. – Mar. Dict.
2. In agriculture, the bottom or conduit of a drain. [Local.]

SUR'FACE, n. [Fr. sur, upon, and face.]

The exterior part of any thing that has length and breadth; one of the limits that terminates a solid; the superficies; outside; as, the surface of the earth; the surface of the sea; the surface of a diamond; the surface of the body; the surface of a cylinder; an even or an uneven surface; a smooth or rough surface; a spherical surface. – Newton. Pope.

SUR'FEIT, n.

1. Fullness and oppression of the system, occasioned by excessive eating and drinking. He has not recovered from a surfeit.
2. Excess in eating and drinking. Now comes the sick hour that his surfeit made. – Shak.

SUR'FEIT, v.i.

To be fed till the system is oppressed and sickness or uneasiness ensues. They are as sick that surfeit with too much, as they that starve with nothing. – Shak.

SUR-FEIT, v.t. [sur'fit; Fr. sur, over, and faire, fait, to do, L. facio.]

1. To feed with meat or drink, so as to oppress the stomach and derange the functions of the system; to overfeed and produce sickness or uneasiness.
2. To cloy; to fill to satiety and disgust. He surfeits us with his eulogies.

SUR'FEIT-ED, pp.

Surcharged and oppressed with eating and drinking to excess; cloyed.

SUR'FEIT-ER, n.

One who riots; a glutton. – Shak.

SUR'FEIT-ING, n.

The act of feeding to excess; gluttony. – Luke xxi.

SUR'FEIT-ING, ppr.

Oppressing the system by excessive eating and drinking; cloying; loading or filling to disgust.

SUR'FEIT-WA-TER, n. [surfeit and water.]

Water for the cure of surfeits. – Locke.