Literary notes about Lurching (AI summary)
The term "lurching" often connotes an abrupt, irregular, and sometimes uncontrolled movement, imbuing scenes with a sense of instability or sudden violence. In narratives, it is used to enhance the atmosphere by depicting everything from a speeding locomotive surging through a dark, smoky night [1] to an ailing aircraft faltering mid-flight like a wounded bird [2]. It also describes more human or animal motions, such as a character "lurching forward" in a state of disarray [3] or a figure moving with a staggering gait [4]. Such usage serves to heighten tension and underscore uncontrollable forces—whether mechanical, environmental, or emotional—as vividly portrayed when a ship is said to be "lurching with the rising tide" [5] or when a person's aimless, drunken wobble is noted [6].
- Then there was sudden darkness as the locomotive leaped past, and huge box-cars rushed, lurching and rocking, out of the thick, black smoke.
— from Carmen's Messenger by Harold Bindloss - For a full ten seconds the monoplane held on its course, then, lurching like a wounded bird, it swooped swiftly downwards.
— from The Sea Monarch by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman - I shouted, lurching forward, as if I had luck and not skill to thank for it.
— from Historical Romances: Under the Red Robe, Count Hannibal, A Gentleman of France by Stanley John Weyman - He walks with a lurching gait, scarcely moving.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - The wounded man lost his footing, and the brig lurching with the rising tide, he fell into the sea.
— from For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke - She quickened her pace; he followed her, lurching like a drunken man.
— from Dr. Adriaan by Louis Couperus
