surface

1. 1

   The external boundary of an object or body.

2. 2

   The overside or upside of a flat object such as a table, or of a liquid.

   • 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. 3

   The outside hull of a tangible object.

   • Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.
   • [The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across.
4. 4

   Outward or external appearance.figuratively

   • On the surface, the spy looked like a typical businessman.
5. 5

   The locus of an equation (especially one with exactly two degrees of freedom) in a space of more than two dimensions.

6. 6

   The story or image suggested by a cryptic clue, when read as a whole sentence without considering wordplay.

   • The surface is clearly about people like you and me, those whose better days are behind us and who now shop at M&S.
   • 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.
7. 7

   A portion of the display to which graphics can be rendered.

   • The video player algorithm requires a target surface.

syn. overside · superfice

1. 1

   To provide with a surface; to apply a surface to.transitive

   • The crew surfaced the road with bitumen.
2. 2

   To rise to the surface.intransitive

   • There was great relief when the missing diver finally surfaced.
3. 3

   To bring to the surface.transitive

   • Sage went immediately to work; Damien surfaced the submarine and readied the group to meet outside the hatch.
4. 4

   To come out of hiding.figurativelyintransitive

   • The company believes the stolen chocolate bars could surface through unofficial sales channels across European markets.
5. 5

   To become known or apparent; to appear or be found; to come to light.intransitive

   • 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. 6

   To make (information, facts, content, etc) known.transitive

   • 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. 7

   To work a mine near the surface.intransitive