counter surf
counter surf verb: to sneak unsupervised food from a table or kitchen counter.
Verb
counter surf (third-person singular simple present counter surfs, present participle counter surfing, simple past and past participle counter surfed)
- To sneak unsupervised food from a table or kitchen counter.
- With nothing to cause temptation, there will be no reason for him to counter surf other than to grab your attention.2011, Bardi McLennan, Miriam Fields-Babineau, Puppy Training
- Remember, Attention Seekers who counter surf need to be trained differently than those cats who have other reasons for surfing, but regardless of your cat's motivation for counter surfing, don't yell at her or attempt to stare her down, pet her, or squirt her with water.2011, Marilyn Krieger, Naughty No More
Noun
counter surf (uncountable)
- Waves that have broken on the shoreline and that push seaward as a result.
- I would however beg to qualify this observation to a slight extent by remarking, that the nearer a vessel is anchored to the beach, she approaches the influence of the counter surf from the shore, and to this circumstance may be attributed a greater and more sudden jerk than the ship would receive...1854, Victoria. Legislative Council, Minutes of the Proceedings of the Legislative Council During the Session 1853-4
- The seas continually brake over the shops poope, and flew into the sailes with such violence, that we still expected the tearing of our sayles, or oversetting of the ship, and withall to our utter discomfort, wee perceived that wee fell still more and more to leeward, so that wee could not double...1880, John Davis, Sir Albert Hastings Markham, Charles Henry Coote, The Voyages and Works of John Davis, the Navigator, page 116
Forms of counter surf
| third-person singular present | counter surfs |
|---|---|
| present participle | counter surfing |
| past participle | counter surfed |
| past | counter surfed |
| alternative form | counter-surf |
| alternative form | countersurf |
Origin of counter surf
From counter ("kitchen surface where food preparation takes place") + surf ("to browse the internet, television, etc.").
From counter ("contrary or opposing") + surf ("waves that break on an ocean shoreline").
Questions about counter surf
- What does counter surf mean?
- Counter surf means to sneak unsupervised food from a table or kitchen counter.
- What part of speech is counter surf?
- Counter surf can be a verb or a noun.
- What is the past tense of counter surf?
- The past tense of counter surf is counter surfed.
Words near counter surf in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: counter surf (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “counter surf.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/counter_surf. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.