1. A powerful rising and falling, or forward rushing movement, like that of the sea: There was a surge of seawater against the seawall during the storm.
2. A sudden, intense experience of an emotion; especially, one that seems to rush through a person like a wave: Lenora had a surge of anger when her colleague criticized her work.
3. A sudden increase in something, often one that is relatively short-lived: There was a surge in demand for the computers.

The people in the community experienced a sudden surge of prices for food products.

4. An unexpected and temporary increase in an electrical current or voltage: Addie's electric clock on the stove went out after the electric surge during the thunder storm.
5. Etymology: "fountain, stream"; apparently from Middle French sourge-, a stem of sourdre, "to rise, to swell"; from Latin surgere, "to rise", a contraction of surrigere, "to rise"; from sub-, "up from below" + regere, "to keep straight, to guide".

The same Latin verb gives us insurgent, "one who rises up against authority" and resurrection, "a rising again".

1. To rush or to move quickly in a specific direction: The shoppers surged into the store the minute the doors were opened.
2. To rise or to increase in a rapid manner: The crowd of enthusiasts were surging towards the auditorium to get seats to hear the lecture on astronomy.

As the Philippines' population surges, the space for learning vanishes

With a country whose population of 92 million is exploding or surging so fast, and whose education budget is so small, that it cannot find space to teach its children, many classes have 100 pupils in them.

The surge is a result of more children coming into the public schools as the economy tightens and families cannot afford the advantages of private schools, with their smaller classes.

The shortage of toilets has also become a problem; particularly when some lavatories have been converted into "claustrophobic faculty lounges, while the teacher's lounges have been put to use as classrooms".