Now literary. Forms: 4 lurkke, lork(e, 4–7 lurke, 6 lourke, 6–7 lurck, 7 lurcke. [app. f. lūr- LOUR v. with frequentative suffix as in tal-k. Cf. LG. lurken to shuffle along, Norw. lurka to sneak away, Sw. dial. lurka to be slow in one’s work (Sw. lurk bumpkin).]
1. intr. To hide oneself; to lie in ambush; to remain furtively or unobserved about one spot. (Now only with indication of place.) Also, † to live in concealment or retirement.
c. 1300. Havelok, 68. Hwan he felede hise foos, He made hem lurken, and crepen in wros.
a. 1366[?]. Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 465. There lurked and there coured she, Fer pover thing, wher-so it be, Is shamfast, and despysed ay.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xliii. (Cecile), 89. Valaryane … fand þe bischope sanct urbane lurkand ymong pure men mekly.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 355. And thus lurkende upon his stelthe In his await so longe he lai [etc.].
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1167. Silen to the Citie softly and faire; Lurkyt vnder lefe-sals loget with vines.
c. 1470. Golagros & Gaw., 1080. Sal neuer freik on fold, fremmyt nor freynde, Gar me lurk for ane luke, lawit nor lerd.
1547. Boorde, Introd. Knowl., xxiv. (1870), 181. To lyue in rest and peace in my cytye I do lourke.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 20. Fisches lurking amang the stanes.
1605. Camden, Rem., Rythmes, 25. When Philip de Valoys the French King lurked in Cambray.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah, IV. i. 9. They shew also in this city the house or rather hole wherein Ananias … dwelt or lurked, being a Cellar under ground.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 33, ¶ 7. Could you then steal out of Town, and lurk like a Robber about my House.
1761. Hume, Hist. Eng. (1806), V. lxix. 185. Shaftesbury … had left his house and secretly lurked in the city.
1772–84. Cook, Voy. (1790), VI. 1962. The natives were seen lurking about the beach.
1826. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), II. 193. When quarters are good, you are apt to lurk in them; but really it was so wet, that we could not get away.
1863. Miss Braddon, Eleanor’s Vict., III. ii. 22. There was a man lurking somewhere under the shadow of the evergreens.
1887. Bowen, Virg. Eclog., III. 93. Run, for a cold snake lurks in the grasses yonder unseen!
† b. To shirk work; to idle. Obs.
1551. Crowley, Pleas. & Pain, 287. You toke from them theyr heritage Leaueyng them nought wheron to worcke: Which lacke dyd make them learne to lurke.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 175. When Dinner is ended, set seruants to wurke, and follow such fellowes as loueth to lurke.
a. 1792. Song, Poor Thresher, ii. in Johnson’s Museum, IV. 384. He never was known for to idle or lurk.
2. transf. and fig. Of things: To escape observation, to be concealed or latent.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, IV. 277 (305). O soule lurkinge in þis wo, vnneste, Fle forth out of myn herte and lat it breste.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 18. Then ought you to denie that any vnfaithfulnes, fraude, or deceitfulnesse lieth lurking in our friendship.
1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., II. iii. Wks. 1856, I. 98. Griefe … lurkes in secret angles of the heart.
1661. Boyle, Style of Script. (1671), 206. Laziness and pride … both which lurk under the pretext of multiplicity of important avocations.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Past., III. 58. Grapes in clusters lurk, Beneath the Carving of the curious Work.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 399, ¶ 3. Those Vices that lurk in the secret Corners of the Soul.
1795. Burns, Song, ‘Their groves of sweet myrtles.’ Where the blue-bell and gowan lurk lowly unseen.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., II. lxxxii. But midst the throng in merry masquerade, Lurk there no hearts that throb with secret pain?
1883. R. W. Dixon, Mano, III. iii. 121. A dismal deed … The fame of which lurks in obscurity.
3. To move about in a secret and furtive manner; to ‘steal’ along, away, out. Now rare.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 25. Þat litel child listely lorked out of his caue. Ibid., 2213. Lorkinde þurth londes þi niȝt so lumbardie þei passed.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. III. 226. Lyghtliche lyere lep a-way þennes, Lorkynge þorw lanes.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 12666. Þe buernes … dang hym to deth in þe derk hole … & lurkit to þaire tentis. Ibid., 13106.
1572. Satir. Poems Reform., xxxiii. 297. First, thair come in, lurkand vpon ȝour gait, Pryde and Inuy.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lxi. That second-floor arch in a London house,… commanding the main thoroughfare by which … cook lurks down before daylight to scour her pots and pans in the kitchen;… up which John lurks to bed.
1851. D. Jerrold, St. Giles, xiv. 142. That young nobleman has been seen lurking about here very much of late.
† 4. To peer furtively or slyly. Obs.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxix. 107. He lokis lurkand like an nape.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, xiii. Prol. 78. Me thocht I lurkit vp vnder my hude To spy this auld.
