Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
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Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Cŭr'rent-ness, n. p. 325The quality or condition of being current; currency; circulation; general reception. 2. Easiness of pronunciation; fluency. [Obs.] When currentness [combineth] with staidness, how can the language…Cŭr'ri-cle, n. p. 325A small or short course. [Obs.] Upon a curricle in this world depends a long course of the next. Browne. 2. A chaise with two wheels, drawn by two horses abreast.Cur-rĭc'-u-lŭm, n. p. 325A race-course; a place for running. 2. A course; particularly, a specified fixed course of study, as in a university.Cûr'rie, n. p. 325See CURRY.Cŭr'ried, p. a. p. 325Dressed by currying; dressed as leather; cleaned; prepared. 2. Prepared with curry; as, curried rice, fowl, &c.Cûr'ri-er, n. p. 325One who curries, dresses, and colors leather, after it is tanned.Cûr'rish, a. p. 325Having the qualities, or exhibiting the characteristics, of a cur; snarling; quarrelsome; intractable; churlish; hence, also, brutal; malignant. “Some currish plot,—some trick.” Lockhart. Thy currish…Cûr'rish-ly, adv. p. 325Like a cur; in a brutal manner.Cûr'rish-ness, n. p. 325Moroseness; churlishness.Cŭr'ry, v. t. p. 325To dress or prepare for use by a process of scraping, cleansing, beating, smoothing, and coloring;—said of leather. 2. To rub or cleanse the skin of; to scratch;—said of a horse. Your short horse is…Cŭr'ry, n. p. 325(Cookery.) A kind of sauce much used in India, containing red pepper and other strong spices. 2. A stew of fowl, fish, &c., cooked with curry-sauce.Cŭr'ry-cōmb, n. p. 325An instrument or comb for currying or rubbing and cleaning horses.Cŭr'ry-pow'der, n. p. 325(Cookery.) A condiment used for making curry, formed of various strong spices, as cayenne pepper, turmeric, ginger, &c.Cŭrse, v. t. p. 325To utter a wish of evil against; to invoke harm against; to imprecate evil upon; to call for mischief or injury to fall upon; to execrate. Thou shalt not . . . curse the ruler of thy people. Ex.…Curse, v. i. p. 325To utter imprecations, maledictions, or curses; to use profane language; to swear. Then began he to curse and to swear. Matt. xxvi. 74. His spirits hear me, And yet I needs must curse. Shak.Cúrse, n. p. 325The invocation of harm or injury; malediction; imprecation of evil upon another. Lady, you know no rule of charity Which renders good for bad, blessing for curses. Shak. 2. Evil, solemnly, or in…Cúrs'ed, a. p. 325Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable. Let us fly this cursed place. Milton. 2. Producing trouble or vexation. This cursed quarrel be no more renewed. Dryden.Cúrs'ed-ly, adv. p. 325In a cursed manner; miserably; in a manner to be cursed or detested; enormously. [Low.]Cúrs'ed-ness, n. p. 325The state of being under a curse, or of being doomed to execration or to evil.Cúrs'er, n. p. 325One who curses, or utters a curse.Cúr'ship, n. p. 325Dogship; meanness; ill-nature. [Rare.] How durst he, I say, oppose thy curship? Hudibras.Cūr'si-tor, n. p. 325(Eng. Law.) An officer or clerk in the Court of Chancery, whose business is to make out original writs. 2. A courier or runner. [Obs.] “Cursitors to and fro.” Holland.Cûr'sive, a. p. 325Running; flowing. Cursive hand, a running hand.Cūr'sor, n. p. 325Any part of a mathematical instrument that moves or slides backward and forward upon another part.Cûr'so-ra-ry, a. p. 325Cursory; hasty. [Obs.] “A cursory eye.” Shak.Cur-sō'ri-al, a. p. 325Adapted for running or walking, and not for prehension; as, the limbs of the horse are cursorial.Cûr'so-ri-ly, adv. p. 325In a running or hasty manner. 2. Without attention; slightly; hastily.Cŭr'so-ri-ness, n. p. 325Hasty or superficial view or attention.Cur-sō'ri-ŭs, n. p. 325(Ornith.) A genus of birds of the order Cursores; a kind of plover.Cúr'so-ry, a. p. 325Running about; not stationary. [Obs.] 2. Characterized by haste; hastily or superficially performed; lacking close and thorough attention; slight; superficial; careless. Events far too important to…Cŭrst, imp. & p. p. p. 325of curse.Cŭrst, a. p. 325Froward; vexatious; peevish; malignant; mischievous; malicious; snarling. [Obs.] His eldest sister is so curst and shrewd. Shak. Though his mind Be ne’er so curst, his tongue is kind. CrashawCúrst'fúl-ly, adv. p. 326Peevishly; vexatiously; detestably. [Obs.] “Curstfully mad.” Marston.Cŭrst'ness, n. p. 326Peevishness; malignity; frowardness; crabbedness; surliness. [Obs.] Shak.Cŭrt, a. p. 326Characterized by brevity; short; crusty. “The curt, yet comprehensive reply.” W. Irving.Cur-tāil', v. t. p. 326To cut off the end of; to shorten; to abridge; to diminish; — sometimes followed by of. I that am curtailed of all fair proportion, Deformed, unfinished. Shak. Perhaps this humor of speaking no more…Cûr'tail-dŏg, n. p. 326The dog of a person not qualified to course, which by the forest laws must have its tail cut short, partly as a mark, and partly from a notion that the tail of a dog is necessary to him in running.…Cur-tāil'er, n. p. 326One who cuts off any thing.Cŭr'tāil-stēp, n. p. 326(Arch.) The lowest step in a flight of stairs, ending, at its outer extremity, in a scroll.Cūr'tain, n. p. 326A cloth screen or covering intended to darken or conceal, and admitting of being drawn back or up, and reclosed at pleasure; a cloth hanging round a bed or at a window; in theaters, and like places…Cúr'tain, v. t. p. 326To inclose as with curtains; to furnish with curtains. Wicked dreams abuse The curtained sleep. Shak. So when the sun in bed Curtained with cloudy red. Milton.Cûr'tain-lēct/ūre, n. p. 326A lecture or reproof given by a wife to her husband within the bed-curtains, or in bed. Jerrold. A curtain-lecture is worth all the sermons in the world for teaching the virtues of patience and…Cúr'tal, n. p. 326A horse with a docked tail; hence, any thing cut short. [Obs.] Nares.Cŭr'tal, a. p. 326Curt; brief. “Essays and curtal aphorisms.” Milton.Cúr'tal, v. t. p. 326Same as CURTAIL. [Rare.]Cúr'tal-ăx or Cúr'tle-ăx or Cūrte'lāsse, n. p. 326A form of sword now called cutlass. See CUTLASS. ☞—The original name coutel-hache has been progressively altered into coutel-axe, curtle-axe, coutelace, and cutlass. Meyrick.Cūr'tal-frī'ar, n. p. 326A friar who acted as porter at the gate of a monastery. [Obs.] Smart. Who hath seen our chaplain? Where is our curtal-friar? W. Scott.Cur-tā'nă or Cur-tein', n. p. 326The pointless sword carried before English monarchs at their coronation, and emblematically considered as the sword of mercy;—also called the sword of Edward the Confessor.Cŭr'tate, a. p. 326(Astron.) Shortened or reduced; — said of the distance of a planet from the sun or earth. It signifies that distance as measured in the plane of the ecliptic, or the distance to that point where a…Cur-tā'tion, n. p. 326(Astron.) The interval by which the curtate distance of a planet is less than the true distance.Court'i-lage, n. p. 326(Law.) A yard, court-yard, or piece of ground pertaining to a dwelling-house, and included within the same fence. Burrill.Cūrt'ly, adv. p. 326Briefly.Cŭrt'ness, n. p. 326Shortness.Cúrt'sy, n. p. 326The same as COURTESY.Cū'rule, a. p. 326(Rom. Antiq.) Belonging to a chariot; — applied to a kind of chair or seat appropriated to certain magistrates, and regarded as a symbol of authority. It was without arms or back, and was borne in a…Cûr'val or Cûr'vant, n. p. 326(Her.) Bowed; bent; curved.Cûr'vate or Cûr'va-ted, a. p. 326Bent in a regular form; curved.Cur-vā'tion, n. p. 326The act of bending or crooking.Cûr'va-tive, a. p. 326(Bot.) Having the leaves only a little curved. Henslow.Cûr'va-türe, n. p. 326The continual flexure or bending of a line or surface from a rectilinear direction; the amount or degree of bending of a mathematical curve, or the tendency at any point to depart from a tangent…