Surface

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: sur=face

CIDE DICTIONARY

Surface, n. [F. See Sur-, and Face, and cf. Superficial.].

•  The exterior part of anything that has length and breadth; one of the limits that bound a solid, esp. the upper face; superficies; the outside; as, the surface of the earth; the surface of a diamond; the surface of the body.  [1913 Webster]

  "The bright surface of this ethereous mold."  [1913 Webster]
•  Hence, outward or external appearance.  [1913 Webster]

  "Vain and weak understandings, which penetrate no deeper than the surface."  [1913 Webster]
•  A magnitude that has length and breadth without thickness; superficies; as, a plane surface; a spherical surface.  [1913 Webster]
•  That part of the side which is terminated by the flank prolonged, and the angle of the nearest bastion.  Stocqueler.  [1913 Webster]

Caustic surface, Heating surface, etc. See under Caustic, Heating, etc. -- Surface condensation, Surface condenser. See under Condensation, and Condenser. -- Surface gauge (Mach.), an instrument consisting of a standard having a flat base and carrying an adjustable pointer, for gauging the evenness of a surface or its height, or for marking a line parallel with a surface. -- Surface grub (Zoöl.), the larva of the great yellow underwing moth (Triphœna pronuba). It is often destructive to the roots of grasses and other plants. -- Surface plate (Mach.), a plate having an accurately dressed flat surface, used as a standard of flatness by which to test other surfaces. -- Surface printing, printing from a surface in relief, as from type, in distinction from plate printing, in which the ink is contained in engraved lines.

Surface, v. t. 

•  To give a surface to; especially, to cause to have a smooth or plain surface; to make smooth or plain.  [1913 Webster]
•  To work over the surface or soil of, as ground, in hunting for gold.  [1913 Webster]

Surface, v. i. 

•  To rise from the depths of a liquid to the surface; as, the submarine surfaced to recharge its batteries.  [PJC]
•  To become known or public; -- said of information.  [PJC]
•  To show up, as a person who was in hiding; as, he absconded with the payroll and surfaced in Argentina.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Surface, n. & v.
--n.
1 a the outside of a material body. b the area of this.
2 any of the limits terminating a solid.
3 the upper boundary of a liquid or of the ground etc.
4 the outward aspect of anything; what is apparent on a casual view or consideration (presents a large surface to view; all is quiet on the surface).
5 Geom. a set of points that has length and breadth but no thickness.
6 (attrib.) a of or on the surface (surface area). b superficial (surface politeness).
--v.
1 tr. give the required surface to (a road, paper, etc.).
2 intr. & tr. rise or bring to the surface.
3 intr. become visible or known.
4 intr. colloq. become conscious; wake up.

Idiom

come to the surface become perceptible after being hidden. surface-active (of a substance, e.g. a detergent) able to affect the wetting properties of a liquid. surface mail mail carried over land and by sea, and not by air. surface noise extraneous noise in playing a gramophone record, caused by imperfections in the grooves. surface tension the tension of the surface-film of a liquid, tending to minimize its surface area.

Derivative

surfaced adj. (usu. in comb.). surfacer n.

Etymology

F (as SUR-(1), FACE)

THESAURUS

Surface

3-D, acreage, ankle-deep, apparent, appear, appearing, area, arise, bail out, bob up, border, boundary, breadth, break cover, break forth, break water, burst forth, circumference, clerestory, come, come forth, come out, come up, concrete, continuum, conventionalized, cortex, cortical, cover, covering, crop up, crust, cubic, cursoriness, cursory, debouch, depthless, dimension, dimensional, disembogue, dive, effuse, emanate, emerge, emptiness, empty space, envelope, epidermal, epidermic, epidermis, erupt, exomorphic, expanse, expansion, extension, extent, exterior, exteriority, external, extrinsic, extrinsically, extrude, facade, face, facet, feel, field, finish, flat, float up, flood negative, flood the tanks, fly up, formal, formalist, formalistic, formulary, fountain, fourth-dimensional, fringe, front, galactic space, gloss, go below, grain, granular texture, gush, impersonal, indentation, infinite space, integument, interface, interstellar space, issue, issue forth, jejune, jet, jump out, jump up, knee-deep, knub, leap up, legalistic, light, lineaments, materialize, measure, mere scratch, nap, no depth, no water, nominal, not deep, nothingness, nub, on the surface, open, ostensible, ostensibly, out, outer, outer face, outer layer, outer side, outer skin, outer space, outermost, outline, outlying, outmost, outside, outstanding, outward, outward-facing, outwardly, pave, pedantic, peripheral, periphery, pile, pinprick, pit, plane, pock, pop up, proportion, proportional, protrude, protuberance, public, ridgepole, rig for diving, rind, rise, rocket, roof, roofpole, rooftop, roundabout, sally, sally forth, scratch, seeming, shag, shallow, shallow-rooted, shallowness, shell, shoal, shoaliness, shoot up, show up, side, skin, skin-deep, skyrocket, slight, slightness, space, space-time, spatial, spatial extension, spatiotemporal, sphere, spherical, spread, spring up, spurt, start up, stereoscopic, structure, stylized, submerge, superficial, superficial extension, superficiality, superficially, superficies, superstratum, surface texture, tarmac, texture, thin, three-dimensional, to all appearances, top, top floor, top side, topside, topsides, tract, trivial, triviality, two-dimensional, unprofound, upleap, upper side, upshoot, upside, upspear, upspring, upstart, vault up, veneer, visible, void, volume, volumetric, wale, weave, woof

ROGET THESAURUS

Surface

Exteriority

N exteriority, outside, exterior, surface, superficies, skin, superstratum, disk, disc, face, facet, extrados, excentricity, eccentricity, circumjacence, exterior, external, outer most, outward, outlying, outside, outdoor, round about, extramural, extralimitary, extramundane, superficial, skin-deep, frontal, discoid, extraregarding, excentric, eccentric, outstanding, extrinsic, ecdemic, exomorphic, externally, out, with out, over, outwards, ab extra, out of doors, extra muros, in the open air, sub Jove, sub dio, a la belle etoile, al fresco.

Texture

N texture, structure (form), organization, anatomy, frame, mold, fabric, construction, framework, carcass, architecture, stratification, cleavage, substance, stuff, compages, parenchyma, constitution, staple, organism, organography, osteology, myology, splanchnology, neurology, angiography, adeology, angiography, adenography, texture, surface texture, intertexture, contexture, tissue, grain, web, surface, warp and woof, warp and weft, tooth, nap, flatness (smoothness), fineness of grain, coarseness of grain, dry goods, silk, satin, muslin, burlap, histology, structural, organic, anatomic, anatomical, textural, textile, fine grained, coarse grained, fine, delicate, subtile, gossamery, filmy, silky, satiny, coarse, homespun, rough, gritty, smooth, smooth as silk, smooth as satin.