Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LURCH, n. [W. llerc, a frisk, or frisking about, a loitering or lurking; llercian, to loiter about, to lurk. This is the same word radically as lurk. The primary sense is to run, start, leap, or frisk about, as a man or beast that flies from one tree or other object to another to conceal himself. Hence we see the peculiar applicability of this word in seamen's language.]

In seaman's language, a sudden roll of a ship. A lee-lurch is a sudden roll to the leeward, as when a heavy sea strikes the ship on the weather side. – Cyc. To leave in the lurch, to leave in a difficult situation, or in embarrassment; to leave in a forlorn state or without help. – Denham.