Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CURE, n. [L. cura; Fr. cure; L. curo; to cure, to take care, to prepare; W. cûr, care, a blow or stroke, affliction; curaw; to beat, throb, strike; curiaw, to trouble, to vex, to pine, or waste away; Fr. curer, to cleanse; “se curer les dents,” to pick the teeth; It. cura, care, diligence; curare, to cure, attend, protect; also, to value or esteem; Sp. cura, cure, remedy, guardianship; curar, to administer medicines; to salt, as meat; to season, as timber; to bleach thread or linen; to take care; to recover from sickness; curioso, curious, neat, clean, handsome, fine, careful. The radical sense of this word is, to strain, stretch, extend, which gives the sense of healing, that is, making strong, and of care, superintendence. But the Welsh has the sense of driving, a modified application of extending, and this gives the sense of separation and purification. In its application to hay, timber, provisions, &c., the sense may be to make right, as in other cases; but of this I am not confident.]

1. A healing; the act of healing; restoration to health from disease, and to soundness from a wound. We say, a medicine will effect a cure.
2. Remedy for disease; restorative; that which heals. Colds, hunger, prisons, ills without a cure. – Dryden.
3. The employment of a curate; the care of souls; spiritual charge.