Word Confusion: Serge versus Surge

Plural for the noun: serges
Gerund: serging

Third person present verb: serges
Past tense or past participle: serged
Present participle: serging

Plural for the noun: surges
Gerund: surging

Third person present verb: surges
Past tense or past participle: surged
Present participle: surging

Proper Noun:
A man’s name

Verb, transitive:
To overcast unfinished seams or edges, as in a fabric or rug, especially by machine, in order to prevent fraying

• A sudden large increase, typically a brief one that happens during an otherwise stable or quiescent period
• A major deployment of military forces to reinforce those already in a particular area
• A powerful rush of an emotion or feeling
• A sudden marked increase in voltage or current in an electric circuit

[Astronomy] A brief increase in the intensity of solar activity such as X-ray emission, solar wind, solar flares, and prominences

[Nautical] The tapered part of a windlass barrel or a capstan, upon which the cable slips

Verb, intransitive:
[Of a crowd or a natural force] Move suddenly and powerfully forward or upward

• Increase suddenly and powerfully, typically during an otherwise stable or quiescent period
• To roll or be tossed about on waves, as a boat
• To move like advancing waves
• [Of an emotion or feeling] Affect someone powerfully and suddenly
• [Of an electric voltage or current) Increase suddenly
• To improve one’s performance suddenly, especially in bettering one’s standing in a competition
• [Nautical] To loosen, slacken, or temporarily release a cable, a rope, etc., from a capstan or windlass and slip with a jerk

To rise and move in a billowing or swelling manner

To make a dramatic increase in

Verb, transitive:
[Nautical] To loosen or slacken a cable or rope suddenly

To cause to roll in or as if in waves

To make a dramatic increase in

His serge suit was shiny with years of wear.

A French serge is usually softer and finer.

About forty girls gathered at the station or tram stop wearing our navy box-pleated serge tunics, ties, and blazers.

Few schools had a special uniform for summer, so the girls remember tramping in the heat in serge gym frocks, white blouses, and regulation footwear.

Our serge habits got very hot.

For the men, it was the rough serge trousers with the obligatory braces and, of course, the caipin!

Eighteen-year-olds in rough serge uniforms with rusting weapons will bleed to death in the dirt.

Proper Noun:
Serge Ibaka is a basketball player.

Serge Silveira is a cross genre DJ specializing in the music from the 70s and 80s.

Serge Haroche won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2012.

Verb, transitive:
Using a serger to serge a bathing suit makes popped seams less likely.

Serging your raw seam allowances is a quick and easy way to finish them.

I prefer a French seam on chiffons rather than serging the seams.

The firm predicted a 20% surge in sales.

The surge of these armies would come to an end during the second week of September.

Current production facilities were generally built to handle Cold War requirements for major end items and accommodate a mobilization surge.

Sophie felt a surge of anger.

I need a surge protector for my computer.

That rare surge of light at the birth of a supernova was caught by an amateur astronomer (Chock).

Verb, intransitive:
The journalists surged forward.

Shares surged to a record high.

As favorable reviews came out, interest in the software surged.

The fans surged forward to see the movie star.

Indignation surged up within her.

The result is a surge of extra electric current into power systems and every other sort of cable.

Verb, transitive:
“Since the attacks in Paris, we’ve surged intelligence-sharing with our European Allies” (Barack Obama).

Surge the bow cable!

Fish and seaweed rose, caught motionless in the surging water.

“It is often found necessary to slack the messenger to let it surge up the whelps of the capstan” (Repertory, 126).

• The early use of the noun is from the Old French sourgeon
• The verb is partly from the Old French stem sourge-, based on the Latin surgere meaning to rise. Early senses of the verb included rise and fall on the waves and swell with great force.