surface

See also: Surface and surfacé

English

Etymology

    Borrowed from Middle French surface.[1] By surface analysis, sur- +‎ face. Doublet of superficies.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    A computer-generated representation of a surface

    surface (plural surfaces)

    1. The external boundary of an object or body.
    2. The overside or upside of a flat object such as a table, or of a liquid.
      • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
        A very neat old woman, still in her good outdoor coat and best beehive hat, was sitting at a polished mahogany table on whose surface there were several scored scratches so deep that a triangular piece of the veneer had come cleanly away, […].
      • 2020 June 1, DarkSky International, Five Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting‎[1], archived from the original on 9 October 2026:
        Use the lowest light level required. Be mindful of surface conditions, as some surfaces may reflect more light into the night sky than was intended.
    3. The outside hull of a tangible object.
    4. (figurative) Outward or external appearance.
      On the surface, the spy looked like a typical businessman.
      • 1782, Vicesimus Knox, “On knowing the world at an early age”, in Liberal education:  […]‎[2], 4th edition, London: Charles Dilly  […], pages 393–394:
        Such characters as have nothing but external accompliſhments to recommend them, may indeed be greatly admired and approved by vain and weak underſtandings, which penetrate no deeper than the ſurface; but they are deſpiſed by all the truly ſenſible, and pitied by all the truly good.
      • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
        “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, […].
    5. (mathematics, geometry) The locus of an equation (especially one with exactly two degrees of freedom) in a space of more than two dimensions.
    6. (crosswording) The story or image suggested by a cryptic clue, when read as a whole sentence without considering wordplay.
      • 2010 May 3, Sandy Balfour, “Beginner's guide to solving cryptic crosswords”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎[3], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 October 2026:
        The surface is clearly about people like you and me, those whose better days are behind us and who now shop at M&S.
      • 2018 December 7, Bryan Lawson, The Design Student's Journey: understanding How Designers Think, Routledge, →ISBN:
        If you are fooled by the surface you start thinking about internet browsers. But in this case it deviously refers to an animal that feeds by browsing, which is a longer standing use of the word.
      • 2024 June 4, Peter Biddlecombe, “Sunday Times clue writing contest 2020: Lepanto”, in Sunday Times‎[4], archived from the original on 28 January 2026:
        This clue with a booze-related surface uses “sandwich” wordplay, with an insertion of P from “priceless” into “lean to”, which the Oxford Dictionary of English lists as an alternative to “lean towards”, meaning the same as “incline to”.
    7. (computer graphics) A portion of the display to which graphics can be rendered.
      The video player algorithm requires a target surface.

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Translations

    Verb

    surface (third-person singular simple present surfaces, present participle surfacing, simple past and past participle surfaced)

    1. (transitive) To provide with a surface; to apply a surface to.
      The crew surfaced the road with bitumen.
    2. (intransitive) To rise to the surface.
      There was great relief when the missing diver finally surfaced.
      • 1989 May, Jeff MacInnis, “Braving the Northwest Passage”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 599:
        Earlier in the voyage a curious bearded seal (top) had surfaced in Anderson Bay off Victoria Island to inspect us.
    3. (transitive) To bring to the surface.
      • 2007, Patrick Valentine, The Sage of Aquarius, page 182:
        Sage went immediately to work; Damien surfaced the submarine and readied the group to meet outside the hatch.
    4. (intransitive, figurative) To come out of hiding.
      • 2026 March 29, “Someone stole 413,793 KitKat bars and an entire truck in Europe”, in syracuse.com‎[5], archived from the original on 1 April 2026:
        The company believes the stolen chocolate bars could surface through unofficial sales channels across European markets.
    5. (intransitive, of information, facts, content, etc) To become known or apparent; to appear or be found; to come to light.
      • 2013, George Walkden, “The status of hwæt in Old English”, in English Language and Linguistics, volume 17, number 3, →DOI:
        Subordinate clauses, by contrast, exhibit V1 or V2 only around 35% of the time, with the verb usually surfacing later.
      • 2024 May 24, Keith Habersberger, "The Try Guys Tell All" (video on Anthony Padilla's YouTube channel), 5:20:
        They're not growing. Why would I surface them to new people? [...That] makes our video surface less, and that makes the next video surface less.
    6. (transitive) To make (information, facts, content, etc) known.
      • 2024 May 24, Keith Habersberger, "The Try Guys Tell All" (video on Anthony Padilla's YouTube channel), 5:20:
        They're not growing. Why would I surface them to new people? [...That] makes our video surface less, and that makes the next video surface less.
    7. (intransitive) To work a mine near the surface.

    Translations

    References

    1. ^ “surface, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

    French

    Etymology

    From Middle French surface, equivalent to sur- +‎ face, a calque of Latin superficiēs.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    surface f (plural surfaces)

    1. surface
      Near-synonym: superficie

    Derived terms

    Further reading

    This page is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.