lurking

Verb

lurk (third-person singular simple present lurks, present participle lurking, simple past and past participle lurked)

1. To remain concealed in order to ambush.
   • Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort...2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55
2. To remain unobserved.
   • Thus my plight was evil indeed, for I had nothing now to burn to give me light, and knew that 'twas no use setting to grout till I could see to go about it. Moreover, the darkness was of that black kind that is never found beneath the open sky, no, not even on the darkest night, but lurks in close...[1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC
3. To hang out or wait around a location, preferably without drawing attention to oneself.
   • if we find the sophist lurking, we must round him up by royal command of the argument2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 235c
4. (Internet) To read an Internet forum without posting comments or making one's presence apparent.
5. (UK, slang, transitive) To saddle (a person) with an undesirable task or duty.
   • As junior dogsbody, he was lurked with this mission.2015, Andrew Gordon, The Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command

See all 7 meanings of lurk