Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CUR'ED, pp.

Healed; restored to health or soundness; removed, as a disease; remedied; dried, smoked, or otherwise prepared for preservation.

CURE'LESS, a.

That can not be cured or healed; incurable; not admitting of a remedy; as, a cureless disorder; a cureless ill. – Dryden.

CUR'ER, n.

A healer; a physician; one who heals. – Harvey.

CUR'FEW, n. [Fr. couvre-feu, cover-fire.]

1. The ringing of a bell or bells at night, as a signal to the inhabitants to rake up their fires and retire to rest. This practice originated in England from an order of William the Conqueror, who directed that at the ringing of the bell, at eight o'clock, every one should put out his light and go to bed. This word is not used in America; although the practice of ringing a bell, at nine o'clock, continues in many places, and is considered in New England, as a signal for people to retire from company to their own abodes; and in general, the signal is obeyed.
2. A cover for a fire; a fire-plate. [Not used.] – Bacon.

CU-RI-A-LIST'IC, a. [L. curialis.]

Pertaining to court.

CU-RI-AL'I-TY, n. [L. curialis, from curia, a court.]

The privileges, prerogatives, or retinue of a court. [Not used.] – Bacon.

CUR'ING, ppr.

Healing; restoring to health or soundness; removing, as an evil; preparing for preservation.

CUR'ING-HOUSE, n.

A building in which sugar is drained and dried. – Edwards' W. Indies.

CU-RI-O-LOG'IC, a. [Gr. κυριολογια, propriety of speaking.]

Designating a rude kind of hieroglyphics, in which a thing is represented by its picture. – Warburton.

CU-RI-OS'I-TY, n. [L. curiositas. See Curious.]

1. A strong desire to see something novel, or to discover something unknown, either by research or inquiry; a desire to gratify the senses with a sight of what is new or unusual, or to gratify the mind with new discoveries; inquisitiveness. A man's curiosity leads him to view the ruins of Balbec, to investigate the origin of Homer, to discover the component parts of a mineral, or the motives of another's actions. – Shak.
2. Nicety; delicacy.
3. Accuracy; exactness; nice performance; curiousness; as, the curiosity of workmanship. – Ray.
4. A nice experiment; a thing unusual or worthy of curiosity. There hath been practiced a curiosity, to set a tree on the north side of a wall, and at a little hight, to draw it through the wall, &c. – Bacon.
5. An object of curiosity; that which excites a desire of seeing, or deserves to be seen, as novel and extraordinary. We took a ramble together to see the curiosities of this great town. – Addison. [The first and the last senses are chiefly used.]

CU-RI-O'SO, n. [It.]

A curious person; a virtuoso.

CU'RI-OUS, a. [L. curiosus, from cura, care. See Cure.]

1. Strongly desirous to see what is novel, or to discover what is unknown; solicitous to see or to know; inquisitive. Be not curious in unnecessary matters, nor to pry into the concerns of your neighbors. – Anon.
2. Habitually inquisitive; addicted to research or inquiry; as, a man of a curious turn of mind; sometimes followed by after, and sometimes by of. Curious after things elegant and beautiful; curious of antiquities. – Woodward. Dryden.
3. Accurate; careful not to mistake; solicitous to be correct. Men were not curious what syllables or particles they used. Hooker.
4. Careful; nice; solicitous in selection; difficult to please. A temperate man is not curious of delicacies. – Taylor.
5. Nice; exact; subtile; made with care. Both these senses embrace their objects … with a more curious discrimination. – Holder.
6. Artful; nicely diligent. Each ornament about her seemly lies, / By curious chance, or careless art, composed. – Fairfax.
7. Wrought with care and art; elegant; neat; finished as, a curious girdle; curious work. – Ex. xxviii. xxx.
8. Requiring care and nicety; as, curious arts. – Acts xix.
9. Rigid; severe; particular. [Little used.] – Shak.
10. Rare; singular; as, a curious fact.

CU'RI-OUS-LY, adv.

1. With nice inspection; inquisitively; attentively. I saw nothing at first, but observing it more curiously, the spots appeared. – Newton.
2. With nice care and art; exactly; neatly; elegantly. – Ps. cxxxix.
3. In a singular manner; unusually.

CU'RI-OUS-NESS, n.

1. Fitness to excite curiosity; exactness of workmanship.
2. Singularity of contrivance.
3. Curiosity.

CURL, n.

1. A ringlet of hair, or any thing of a like form.
2. Undulation; a waving; sinuosity; flexure. – Newton.
3. A winding in the grain of wood.

CURL, v.i.

1. To bend in contraction; to shrink into ringlets. – Boyle.
2. To rise in waves or undulations; to ripple; and particularly, to roll over at the summit; as, a curling wave.
3. To rise in a winding current, and to roll over at the ends; as, curling smoke.
4. To writhe; into twist itself. Then round her slender waist be curled. – Dryden.
5. To shrink; to shrink back; to bend and sink. He curled down into a corner.

CURL, v.t. [D. krullen; Dan. kröller, to curl, to crisp; Corn. krillia.]

1. To turn, bend, or form into ringlets; to crisp; as the hair.
2. To writhe; to twist; to coil; as, a serpent.
3. To dress with curls. The snaky locks / That curled Megære. – Milton.
4. To raise in waves or undulations; to ripple. Seas would be pools, without the brushing air / To curl the waves. – Dryden.

CURL'ED, pp.

Turned or formed into ringlets; crisped; twisted; undulated.

CUR'LEW, n. [Fr. courlis or corlieu.]

1. An aquatic fowl of the genus Scolopax and the grallic order. It has a long bill; its color is diversified with ash and black; and the largest species spread more than three feet of wing. It frequents the sea shore in winter, and in summer retires to the mountains.
2. A fowl, larger than a partridge, with longer legs, which frequents the corn-fields in Spain. Trevoux.

CURL'I-NESS, n.

A state of being curly.

CURL'ING, ppr.

Bending; twisting; forming into ringlets.

CURL'ING-I-RONS, or CURL'ING-TONGS, n.

An instrument for curling the hair.

CURL'ING-LY, adv.

In a waving manner.

CURL'Y, a.

Having curls; tending to curl; full of ripples.

CUR'LY-HEAD-ED, or CUR'LY-PA-TED, a.

Having curling hair.