surf

/sɜːf//sɝf/

surf noun: waves that break on an ocean shoreline.

Noun

surf (countable and uncountable, plural surfs)

Waves that break on an ocean shoreline.
- […] perhaps it was the look of the island, with its gray, melancholy woods, and wild stone spires, and the surf that we could both see and hear foaming and thundering on the steep beach […]1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC
- 'But when the surf fell enough for the boats to get ashore, and Greening held a lantern for me to jump down into the passage, after we had got the side out of the tomb, the first thing the light fell on at the bottom was a white face turned skyward.[1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC
An instance or session of riding a surfboard in the surf.
- We went for a surf this morning.
A dance popular in the 1960s in which the movements of a surfboard rider are mimicked.
- She [...] loves to cook, sew and dance. She's up on all the latest steps like the frug, the hully-gully and the surf.1964 July 15, The Australian, Sydney, page 20, column 3
(UK, dialectal) The bottom of a drain.

Verb

surf (third-person singular simple present surfs, present participle surfing, simple past and past participle surfed)

To ride a wave on a surfboard; to pursue or take part in the sport of surfing.
To surf at a specified place.
To bodysurf; to swim in the surf at a beach.
- Such diversion as Podson could extort from his isolation was soon vitiated by repetition. He surfed. He sun-baked - with discretion till his skin had peeled and given him a harder cuticle.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 90
(ambitransitive) To browse the Internet, television, etc.

Proper noun capitalized: SURF

SURF

(abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of speeded up robust features.

surf meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

surf in Tamil

சர்ஃப், சர்ஃப் செய்யுங்கள், சர்ஃப் செய்ய

surf in Urdu

سرف

More languagesFewer languages

surf in Bengali: সার্ফ, সার্ফ করুন, সার্ফ করতে
surf in Telugu: సర్ఫ్, సర్ఫ్ చేయండి, సర్ఫ్ చేయడానికి
surf in Malayalam: സർഫ്, സർഫ് ചെയ്യുക, സർഫ് ചെയ്യാൻ
surf in Kannada: ಸರ್ಫ್, ಸರ್ಫ್ ಮಾಡಿ, ಸರ್ಫ್ ಮಾಡಲು
surf in Punjabi: ਸਰਫ਼, ਸਰਫ਼ ਕਰੋ, ਸਰਫ
surf in Gujarati: સર્ફ કરો, સર્ફ, સર્ફ કરવા માટે
surf in Odia: ସର୍ଫ କରନ୍ତୁ, ସର୍ଫ, ସର୍ଫ୍ କରନ୍ତୁ
surf in Nepali: सर्फ, सर्फ गर्नुहोस्, सर्फ गर्न
surf in Vietnamese: cuộc lướt sóng, lướt sóng, lướt web, lướt mạng

Examples of surf in a sentence

It was alone, nervously alighting and flying short distances along the surf.1900, Joseph Grinnell, Birds of the Kotzebue Sound Region, Alaska, page 12:
In most instances the inshore holes or pockets along the surf do not produce as well as the cuts or sloughs between sand bars.1941, Raymond Russell Camp, Fishing the Surf, page 248:
Snook are found in rivers, canals, inlets and along the surf, especially around sand bars, tidal rips, jetties, bridges and piers.1963, Vlad Evanoff, Spin Fishing, page 181:

All 40 example sentences with surf

Forms of surf

Noun
plural	surfs
Verb
third-person singular present	surfs
present participle	surfing
past participle	surfed
past	surfed

Plural of surf: surfs

Origin of surf

Probably from earlier suff, suffe (“the inrush of the sea towards the shore”), possibly from Middle English suffe. Compare sough, surf (“a gutter, drain, sewer, trench”) and sough (“a soothing, gentle, murmuring sound of wind or water”). Alternatively, possibly of Indo-Aryan origin, as the word was formerly a reference to the coast of India, though this is doubtful as no positive etymon can be identified. The verb is from 1917. The verb referring to "browsing the Internet" was popularized by Jean Armour Polly.

Words formed from surf

Phrases with surf

15 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with surf

3 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about surf

What does surf mean?: Surf means waves that break on an ocean shoreline.
What is surf in Hindi?: Surf in Hindi is सर्फ करें, सर्फ, सर्फ़ करें. See Surf meaning in Hindi.
How do you use surf in a sentence?: It was alone, nervously alighting and flying short distances along the surf.
What part of speech is surf?: Surf can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce surf?: Surf is pronounced /sɜːf/ (UK).
What is the plural of surf?: The plural of surf is surfs.

Words near surf in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-surf.wav, En-us-surf.oga.

Cite this entry: “surf.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/surf. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.