Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) A spring; a fountain.

2. (n.) A large wave or billow; a great, rolling swell of water, produced generally by a high wind.

3. (n.) The motion of, or produced by, a great wave.

4. (n.) The tapered part of a windlass barrel or a capstan, upon which the cable surges, or slips.

5. (v. i.) To swell; to rise high and roll.

6. (v. i.) To slip along a windlass.

7. (n.) To let go or slacken suddenly, as a rope; as, to surge a hawser or messenger; also, to slacken the rope about (a capstan).