means To ride breaking waves toward shore, typically standing on a board, or to glide across something (like channels or web pages) with restless, browsing motion.

from The noun 'surf' surfaced in English around the 17th century, first describing the swell and breaking of waves on a coast — possibly an alteration of the older 'suff,' a word for the rush of the sea, and perhaps influenced by 'surge.' Its exact roots are uncertain. The verb 'to surf' the waves came later, and the playful 'surf the channels' and 'surf the web' senses rode in on the 20th century, borrowing the same image of skimming endlessly over a moving surface.