surf

noun

/sɜːf/

/sɜːrf/

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[uncountable] large waves in the sea or ocean, and the white foam that they produce as they fall on the beach, on rocks, etc.
- the sound of surf breaking on the beach
Wordfinder
- beach
- coast
- harbour
- pier
- sandbank
- sea
- shoreline
- surf
- tide
- wave
Extra Examples
- The children splashed around in the surf.
- dolphins riding the surf
- the roar of distant surf
- The sea lions lie near the breaking surf off the beaches.
Topics Geographyc1
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- crashing
- pounding
- big
- …
verb + surf
- ride
surf + verb
- break
- crash
preposition
- in the surf
phrases
- the roar of (the) surf
See full entry
[singular] an act of going surfing
- He decided to go for a surf near Fremantle.
- Sydney, surf capital of the world (= where the sport of surfing is very popular)

Word Originlate 17th cent.: apparently from obsolete suff, of unknown origin, perhaps influenced by the spelling of surge.

verb

/sɜːf/

/sɜːrf/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they surf	/sɜːf/ /sɜːrf/
he / she / it surfs	/sɜːfs/ /sɜːrfs/
past simple surfed	/sɜːft/ /sɜːrft/
past participle surfed	/sɜːft/ /sɜːrft/
-ing form surfing	/ˈsɜːfɪŋ/ /ˈsɜːrfɪŋ/

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(often go surfing)
[intransitive, transitive] surf (something) to take part in the sport of riding on waves on a surfboardTopics Sports: water sportsb1
[transitive] surf the Net/internet to use the internet
- I was surfing the Net looking for information on Indian music.
Topics Phones, email and the internetb1

Word Originlate 17th cent.: apparently from obsolete suff, of unknown origin, perhaps influenced by the spelling of surge.