surf

Etymology

1680s, perhaps from earlier suffe (c. 1590). Unknown, possibly related to sough, or possibly of Indo-Aryan origin, as the word was formerly a reference to the coast of India. The verb is from 1917.

noun

1. Waves that break on an ocean shoreline.
   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
2. An instance or session of riding a surfboard in the surf.
   We went for a surf this morning.
3. 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. 15 July 1964, The Australian, Sydney, page 20, column 3
4. (UK, dialect) The bottom of a drain.

verb

1. To ride a wave on a surfboard; to pursue or take part in the sport of surfing.
2. To surf at a specified place.
3. To bodysurf; to swim in the surf at a beach.
4. (transitive, intransitive) To browse the Internet, television, etc.