curl 
Waves or curls (in glass] which usually arise from the 
sand-holes. Newton, Opticks. 
3. Specifically, a winding or circling in the 
grain of wood. 4. A disease of peach-trees 
which causes great distortion of the leaves. It 
is caused by an ascomycetous fungus, Taakrima 
deformans. See Taphrina. 5. In math., the 
vector part of the quaternion resulting from the 
performance of the operation i.dldx+j.dldy + 
k.dldz on any vector function X + jY + kZ. 
Curl Of the lip, a slight sneering grimace of the lip. 
curl (kerl), v. [E. dial, crule; < ME. 'crulleu = 
MD. krollen, D. krullen = East Pries, krullen = 
U. krollen = Dan. krolle = Sw. dial. kruUn, curl; 
from the noun.] I. trans. 1. To turn, bend, 
or form into ringlets, as the hair. 
These mortal lullabies of pain 
May bind a book, may line a box, 
May serve to curl a maiden's locks. 
Tennymn, 111 Memoriam, Ixxvii. 
2. To dress or adorn with or as with curls ; make 
up the hair of into curls. 
So opposite to marriage, that she shunn'd 
The wealthy curled darlings of our nation. 
Shak., Othello, i. 2. 
The snaky locks 
That mrl'd Megsera. Milton, P. L., x. 560. 
3. To bring or form into the spiral shape of a 
ringlet or curl; in general, to make curves, 
turns, or undulations in or on. 
I sooner will find out the beds of snakes, 
Letting them curl themselves about my limbs. 
Beau, and FL, Maid's Tragedy. 
Seas would be pools, without the brushing air - 
To curl the waves. Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 1. 31. 
II. iii trans. 1. To take the form of curls or 
ringlets, as hair. 
Sir And. Would that have mended my hair? 
Sir To. Past question ; for thou seest it will not curl 
by nature. Shak., T. N., 1. 3. 
Ridley, a little of the stuffing. It'll make your hair 
curl. Thackeray, Philip, xvi. 
Hence 2. To assume any similar spiral 
shape ; in general, to become curved, bent, or 
undulated : often with up. 
Then round her slender waist he curl'd. 
Dryden, Alexander's Feast. 
Citrlinif smokes from village-tops are seen. 
Pope, Autumn, 1. 63. 
Oaylycr/ the waves before each dashing prow. 
Byron. 
The smoke of the incense curling lazily up past the 
baldachino to the frescoed dome. 
T. B. Aldrwh, Ponkapog to 1'esth, p. 30. 
3f. To turn and twist about ; writhe; squirm. 
The very thinking it 
Would make a citizen start : some politic tradesman 
Curl with the caution of a constable. 
B. Joiaon, Fall of Mortimer, i. 1. 
4. To play at curling. See curling. [Scotch.] 
To curie on the ice does greatly please, 
Being a manly Scottish exercise. 
Pennecuik, Poems (ed. 1715), p. 59. 
TO curl down, to shrink ; crouch ; take a coiled recum- 
bent posture : as, he curled doim into a corner. 
curl-cloud (kerl'kloud), n. Same as cirrus, 3. 
curledness (ker'led-nes), . The state of be- 
ing curled. [Rare.] 
curled-pate (kerld'pat), a. Having curled hair ; 
ourly-pated. [Rare.] 
Make curl'd-pate ruffians bald. Shak., T. of A., iv. 3. 
curler (ker'ler), n. 1. One who or that which 
curls. 2. One who engages in the amuse- 
ment of curling. See curling. 
When to the lochs the curlers flock 
Wi' gleesome speed. 
Burns, Tarn Samson's Elegy. 
curlew (ker'lu), n. [Early mod. E. also curlue; 
< ME. curlewe, curlue, eorlow, corolewe, cor- 
olu, kirleioe, etc., < OF. corlieu, also corlis, 
courtts, F. eourtieu and courlis, dial, corlu, cor- 
leru, querlu, kerlu, etc., = It. chiurlo = Sp. 
dim. chorlito, a curlew. The word agrees in 
form in OP. with OP. corlieu, courlieu, corliu, 
curliu, etc., a messenger, but is prob. orig. 
imitative of the bird's cry (hence the free 
variation of form). Cf. It. chiurlare, howl like 
the horned owl ; Sw. hurra, coo, murmur : see 
curr, coo.] 1. A bird of the genus Numenius. 
The name was originally applied to the common European 
species, N. arquatus, formerly called nmnamu, arguata, 
and corlinus. There are upward of 12 species, of all parts 
of the world, haying a long, very slender curved bill, with 
the upper mandible knobbed at the tip, and in other re- 
spects closely resembling the godwits and other species 
of the totanine division of the great family Scolopadda. 
The plumage is much variegated. The total length varies 
from about 12 to about 24 inches ; and the length of the 
bill from about > to 9 inches. The common curlew is also 
called the whnnp. The lesser curlew or \vhimlirel of Eu- 
1404 
Long-billed Curlew (/V 
rope is }?. phaopus. There are several species in the 
United States, as the long-billed curlew (A', longirostris), 
the Hudsonian or jack-curlew (N. hudsonicus), and the 
Eskimo curlew or dough-bird (N. borealis). 
Ye curlews callin' thro' a clud. 
Burns, On Capt. Matthew Henderson. 
2. A name of several grallatorial birds with 
slender decurved bill, not of the genus Nume- 
nius Pygmy curlew, or curlew-sandpiper, Tringa 
subarquata, a small species resembling a curlew in the 
form of the bill and to some extent in coloration. Span- 
ish Curlew, a local name in the United States of the white 
ibis (Eudocimus albui), a bird of a different order. 
CUTlewberry (ker'lu-ber"i), n. ; pi. curlewberries 
(-iz). The black crowberry, Empetrum nigrmn : 
so called in Labrador. 
curlew-jack (ker'lu-jak), n. The jack-curlew or 
lesser curlew of Europe ; the whimbrel, Nume- 
n i us phfeopus. 
curlew-knot (ker'lu-not), n. [< curlew + knot 2 , 
q. v.] Same as curlew-jack. 
curlicue (ker'li-ku), n. [Sometimes written 
curlique, but better curlicue, i. e., curly cue, 
curly Q, in allusion to the curled or spiral forms 
of this letter (2, Q, etc.): see curly and ce 2 .] 
Something fantastically curled or twisted: as, 
to make a curlicue with the pen ; to cut curli- 
cues in skating. [Colloq.] 
Curves, making curly-cues. Sci. Amtr., N. S., LIV. 145. 
curliewurlie (kur'li-wur-li), n. [A loose com- 
pound of curl and whirl.] A fantastic circular 
ornament; a curlicue. [Scotch.] 
Ah ! it's a brave kirk nane o' yer whig-maleeries and 
curlieumrlies and open-steek hems about it. 
Scott, Rob Roy, xix. 
CUrliness (ker'li-nes), n. The state of being 
curly. 
curling (ker'ling), n. [Origin obscure ; appar. 
the verbal n. of curl, v., with ref. to the twist- 
ing, turning, or rolling of the stones.] A pop- 
ular Scottish amusement on the ice, in which 
contending parties slide large smooth stones 
of a circular form from one mark to another, 
called the tee. The chief object of the player is to hurl 
his stone along the ice toward the tee with proper strength 
and precision ; and on the skill displayed by the players in 
putting their own stones in favorable positions, or in driv- 
ing rival stones out of favorable positions, depends the 
chief interest of the game. 
curling-iron (ker'ling-I"ern), n. A rod of iron 
to be used when heated for curling the hair, 
which is twined 
around it : some- 
times made hol- 
low for the inser- 
tion of heating 
materials. 
curling-stone 
(ker ' ling - ston), 
. The stone used C ur,ing- st one. 
in the game of 
curling. In shape it resembles a small convex 
cheese with a handle in the upper side. 
The curling-gtane 
Slides murmuring o'er the icy plain. 
Rammy, Poems, II. 383. 
Burnt curling-stone. See burnt. 
curling-tongs (ker'ling-tongz),.j>?. An instru- 
ment for curling the hair, not unlike a crimp- 
ing-iron, heated before being used. Also curl- 
ing-irons. 
curl-pate (kerl'pat), n. Same as curly-pate. 
curly (ker'li), a. [< curl + -i/l ; = D. krullig = 
Sw. krullig. See curl.] Haying curls; tend- 
ing to curl; full of curves, twists, or ripples. 
The general colours of it [certain hair] are black and 
brown, growing to a tolerable length, and very crisp and 
curly. Cook, Voyages, IV. iii. 6. 
curly-headed (ker'li-hed"ed), . Having curly 
hair. Also curlt/-/>uled. 
curly-pate (ker'li-pat), n. One who has curly 
hair; a curly-headed person. 
currant 
What, to-day we're ci^ht? 
Seven and one's eight, I hope, old curly-pate ! 
Browninff, Ring and Book, II. 04. 
curly-pated (ker'li-pa'ted), (i. Same as eurly- 
licailcd. 
curmi, n. See courmi. 
curmudgeon (ker-muj'on), n. [First in this 
sense in the latter part of the 16th century, 
also spelled curmudgin; prob. a corruption (by 
assimilation of adjacent syllables) of cor H mint - 
gin, cornemudgin, popularly supposed to be a 
corruption of corn-merehant,\)\it prop, (it seems) 
'cornmudging, which means 'corn-hoarding': 
see cornmudgin. The word thus meant ong. 
'one who withholds corn,' popularly regarded 
as the type of churlish avarice.] An avari- 
cious, churlish fellow ; a miser ; a niggard ; ;i 
churl. 
A clownish curmudgeon. 
Stanihumt, Description of Ireland, p. 103. 
A penurious curmudgeon. Locke. 
curmudgeonly (ker-muj'on-li), a. [< curmud- 
geon + -lyl.] Like a curmudgeon ; avaricious; 
niggardly; churlish. 
My curmudgeonly Mother won't allow me wherewithal 
to be Man of myself with. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, iii. 1. 
These curmudgeonly cits regard no ties. 
Foote, The Bankrupt, i. 
curmurring (ker-mur'ing), n. [Imitative. Cf. 
cur, chirr, and murmur.] A low, rumbling 
sound; hence, the motion in the bowels pro- 
duced by flatulence, attended by such a sound ; 
borborygmus. [Scotch.] 
A glass of brandy to three glasses of wine prevents the 
curmurring in the stomach. Scott, Old Mortality, viti. 
curn 1 (kern), n. [Sc., also written kurn; a var. 
of corn: see corn 1 .] 1. A grain; a corn. 2. 
A small quantity ; an indefinite number. 
Ane's nane, twa's some, three's a curn, and four's a pun. 
Scotch nurserti i-iiiie. 
A drap mair lemon or a curn less sugar than just suits 
you. Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xiii. 
curn 2 t, and v. Same as quern. 
curnberry (kern'ber"i), n. ; pi. ciirl>erries (-iz). 
A currant. Brockett. [Prov. Eng.] 
CUrnelt, An obsolete variant of kernel. 
curnook (ker'nuk), n. Same as cranock. 
curpin (ker'pin), n. [Also written curpon, trans- 
posed from F. croupion, rump of a bird, etc., < 
croupe, rump, croupe : see croupV and crupper. ] 
The rump of a fowl : often applied in a ludi- 
crous sense to the buttocks of man ; a crupper. 
[Scotch.] 
curple (ker'pl), . [Transposition of crupper, 
< F. eroujjiere: see crupper.] The crupper; 
the buttocks. [Scotch.] 
My hap [wrap, covering], 
Douce hingin' owre my curple. 
Burns, To the Gniilwife of Wauchope House. 
curr (ker), v. i. [< Sw. kurra = Dan. kurre, coo, 
= MD. 'korren, growl, etc. ; an imitative word: 
see coo, and cf. cur.] To ory as an owl, coo as 
a dove, or purr as a cat. [Prov. Eng. and 
Scotch.] 
The owlets hoot, the owlets curr. 
Wordsuiorth, The Idiot lioy. 
currach, curragh (kur'ach), n. [Sc., also writ- 
ten currack, curroh ; < Gael, curach, a boat. See 
coracle.] 1. A coracle, or small skiff; a boat 
of wickerwork covered with hides or canvas. 
A curragh or canoe costs little, consisting of tarred can- 
vas stretched on a slender framework of wood. 
Fortnightly Ken., N. S., XL. 424. 
What little commerce they [southern Britons] undertook 
was carried on in the frail curraghs, in which they were 
bold enough to cross the Irish Sea. 
C. Elton, Origins of Eng. Hist., p. 237. 
2. A small cart made of twigs. 
The fuel was carried in creels, and the corns in curracktt. 
Statistical Account of Scotland. 
CUrrajong (kur'a-jong), n. [Australian.] The 
native name of Plagiantlius sidoides, a malva- 
ceous shrub or tree of Australia and Tasmania. 
Its strong fibrous bark is used to make cordage. 
CUrrantH, and . An obsolete spelling of 
current 1 and courant 1 . 
currant 2 (kur'ant), n. [Early mod. E. also cur- 
rent (also, rarely, coriiit. coriuth), also cnniiu. 
coran, coren, usually in pi. currans, corana, co- 
rauns, earlier, as in late ME., minimi (rui/ni/iis, 
raysons, etc.) of corans (corautin. ctininncc, <<>- 
rows, etc.), after F. ruiniii-t <li: Coriiillic (1'tr. /xix 
sets de Corintho), raisins of Corinth: so called 
from the place of their origin, the Zante cur- 
rants being still regularly exported. Cf. D. 
korentken, L<i. cnri-ntken, (i. korintln; Dan. k<>- 
render, It. /urnillii. pi., currant; of same ori- 
gin.] 1. A very small kind of raisin or dried 
