Obs. Also 6–7 suffe, 7 zuft (?). [Of unascertained origin; the relation to surf is obscure.] The inrush (of the sea) towards the shore.
An early instance is perhaps to be found in c. 1475 Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 800/25 Hec ledonis, a sulse [? read suffe].
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. I. 227. The Suffe of the Sea setteth her lading dry on land. Ibid. (1600), III. 848. So neere the shore, that the counter-suffe of the sea would rebound against the shippes side.
1621. in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1906), 262. The suffe of the seaes caried us violently on the shoule.
1625. J. Glanville, Voy. Cadiz (Camden), 99. The workeing high goeing (or Zuft as they call it) of the Sea against the same shore.
1687. Phil. Trans., XVI. 496. After what manner they were to make their Descent, particularly in relation to the Suff of the Sea.
