Curmudgeonly adjective Like a curmudgeon; niggardly; churlish; as, a curmudgeonly fellow.

Curmurring noun Murmuring; grumbling; -- sometimes applied to the rumbling produced by a slight attack of the gripes. [ Scot.] Burns.

Curr intransitive verb [ Prob. imitative.] To coo. [ Scot.]

The owlets hoot, the owlets curr .
Wordsworth.

Currant noun [ French corinthe (raisins de Corinthe raisins of Corinth) currant (in sense 1), from the city of Corinth in Greece, whence, probably, the small dried grape (1) was first imported, the Ribes fruit (2) receiving the name from its resemblance to that grape.]

1. A small kind of seedless raisin, imported from the Levant, chiefly from Zante and Cephalonia; -- used in cookery.

2. The acid fruit or berry of the Ribes rubrum or common red currant, or of its variety, the white currant.

3. (Botany) A shrub or bush of several species of the genus Ribes (a genus also including the gooseberry); esp., the Ribes rubrum .

Black currant , a shrub or bush ( Ribes nigrum and R. floridum ) and its black, strong- flavored, tonic fruit. -- Cherry currant , a variety of the red currant, having a strong, symmetrical bush and a very large berry. -- Currant borer (Zoology) , the larva of an insect that bores into the pith and kills currant bushes; specif., the larvae of a small clearwing moth ( Ægeria tipuliformis ) and a longicorn beetle ( Psenocerus supernotatus ). -- Currant worm (Zoology) , an insect larva which eats the leaves or fruit of the currant. The most injurious are the currant sawfly ( Nematus ventricosus ), introduced from Europe, and the spanworm ( Eufitchia ribearia ). The fruit worms are the larva of a fly ( Epochra Canadensis ), and a spanworm ( Eupithecia ). -- Flowering currant , Missouri currant , a species of Ribes ( R. aureum ), having showy yellow flowers.

Currency noun ; plural Currencies (-s...z). [ Confer Late Latin currentia a current, from Latin currens , present participle of currere to run. See Current .]
1. A continued or uninterrupted course or flow like that of a stream; as, the currency of time. [ Obsolete] Ayliffe.

2. The state or quality of being current; general acceptance or reception; a passing from person to person, or from hand to hand; circulation; as, a report has had a long or general currency ; the currency of bank notes.

3. That which is in circulation, or is given and taken as having or representing value; as, the currency of a country; a specie currency ; esp., government or bank notes circulating as a substitute for metallic money.

4. Fluency; readiness of utterance. [ Obsolete]

5. Current value; general estimation; the rate at which anything is generally valued.

He . . . takes greatness of kingdoms according to their bulk and currency , and not after intrinsic value.
Bacon.

The bare name of Englishman . . . too often gave a transient currency to the worthless and ungrateful.
W. Irving.

Current adjective [ Middle English currant , Old French curant , corant , present participle of curre , corre , F. courre , courir , to run, from Latin currere ; perhaps akin to E. horse . Confer Course , Concur , Courant , Coranto .]
1. Running or moving rapidly. [ Archaic]

Like the current fire, that renneth
Upon a cord.
Gower.

To chase a creature that was current then
In these wild woods, the hart with golden horns.
Tennyson.

2. Now passing, as time; as, the current month.

3. Passing from person to person, or from hand to hand; circulating through the community; generally received; common; as, a current coin; a current report; current history.

That there was current money in Abraham's time is past doubt.
Arbuthnot.

Your fire-new stamp of honor is scarce current .
Shak.

His current value, which is less or more as men have occasion for him.
Grew.

4. Commonly estimated or acknowledged.

5. Fitted for general acceptance or circulation; authentic; passable.

O Buckingham, now do I play the touch
To try if thou be current gold indeed.
Shak.

Account current . See under Account . -- Current money , lawful money. Abbott.

Current noun [ Confer French courant . See Current , adjective ]

1. A flowing or passing; onward motion. Hence: A body of fluid moving continuously in a certain direction; a stream; esp., the swiftest part of it; as, a current of water or of air; that which resembles a stream in motion; as, a current of electricity.

Two such silver currents , when they join,
Do glorify the banks that bound them in.
Shak.

The surface of the ocean is furrowed by currents , whose direction . . . the navigator should know.
Nichol.

2. General course; ordinary procedure; progressive and connected movement; as, the current of time, of events, of opinion, etc.

Current meter , an instrument for measuring the velocity, force, etc., of currents. -- Current mill , a mill driven by a current wheel. -- Current wheel , a wheel dipping into the water and driven by the current of a stream or by the ebb and flow of the tide.

Syn. -- Stream; course. See Stream .

Currently adverb In a current manner; generally; commonly; as, it is currently believed.

Currentness noun
1. The quality of being current; currency; circulation; general reception.

2. Easiness of pronunciation; fluency. [ Obsolete]

When currentness [ combineth] with staidness, how can the language . . . sound other than most full of sweetness?
Camden.

Curricle noun [ Latin curriculum a running, a race course, from currere to run. See Current , and confer Curriculum .]
1. A small or short course.

Upon a curricle in this world depends a long course of the next.
Sir T. Browne.

2. A two-wheeled chaise drawn by two horses abreast.

Curriculum noun ; plural English Curriculums (-l...mz), Latin Curricula (-l...). [ Latin See Curricle .]

1. A race course; a place for running.

2. A course; particularly, a specified fixed course of study, as in a university.

Currie noun & v. See 2d & 3d Curry .

Curried (-r...d) p. adjective [ See Curry , transitive verb , and Curry , noun ]

1. Dressed by currying; cleaned; prepared.

2. Prepared with curry; as, curried rice, fowl, etc.

Currier noun [ From 1st Curry .] One who curries and dresses leather, after it is tanned.

Currish adjective [ From Cur .] Having the qualities, or exhibiting the characteristics, of a cur; snarling; quarrelsome; snappish; churlish; hence, also malicious; malignant; brutal.

Thy currish spirit
Governed a wolf.
Shak.

Some currish plot, -- some trick.
Lockhart.

-- Cur"rish*ly , adverb -- Cur"rish*ness , noun

Curry transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Curried (-r?d); present participle & verbal noun Currying .] [ Middle English curraien , curreien , Old French cunreer , correier , to prepare, arrange, furnish, curry (a horse), French corroyer to curry (leather) (cf. Old French conrei , conroi , order, arrangement, Late Latin conredium ); cor- (L. com- ) + roi , rei , arrangement, order; probably of German origin, and akin to English ready . See Ready , Greith , and confer Corody , Array .]
1. To dress or prepare for use by a process of scraping, cleansing, beating, smoothing, and coloring; -- said of leather.

2. To dress the hair or coat of (a horse, ox, or the like) with a currycomb and brush; to comb, as a horse, in order to make clean.

Your short horse is soon curried .
Beau. & FL.

3. To beat or bruise; to drub; -- said of persons.

I have seen him curry a fellow's carcass handsomely.
Beau. & FL.

To curry favor , to seek to gain favor by flattery or attentions. See Favor , noun

Curry noun [ Tamil kari .] [ Written also currie .]

1. (Cookery) A kind of sauce much used in India, containing garlic, pepper, ginger, and other strong spices.

2. A stew of fowl, fish, or game, cooked with curry.

Curry powder (Cookery) , a condiment used for making curry, formed of various materials, including strong spices, as pepper, ginger, garlic, coriander seed, etc.

Curry transitive verb To flavor or cook with curry.

Currycomb noun A kind of card or comb having rows of metallic teeth or serrated ridges, used in currying a horse.

Currycomb transitive verb To comb with a currycomb.

Curse transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Cursed (k?rst) or Curst ; present participle & verbal noun Cursing .] [ Anglo-Saxon cursian , corsian , perhaps of Scand. origin; confer Danish korse to make the sign of the cross, Swedish korsa , from Dan. & Swedish kors cross, Icel kross , all these Scand. words coming from Old French crois , croiz , from Latin crux cross. Confer Cross .]
1. To call upon divine or supernatural power to send injury upon; to imprecate evil upon; to execrate.

Thou shalt not . . . curse the ruler of thy people.
Ex. xxii. 28.

Ere sunset I'll make thee curse the deed.
Shak.

2. To bring great evil upon; to be the cause of serious harm or unhappiness to; to furnish with that which will be a cause of deep trouble; to afflict or injure grievously; to harass or torment.

On impious realms and barbarous kings impose
Thy plagues, and curse 'em with such sons as those.
Pope.

To curse by bell, book, and candle . See under Bell .

Curse intransitive verb To utter imprecations or curses; to affirm or deny with imprecations; to swear.

Then began he to curse and to swear.
Matt. xxi. 74.

His spirits hear me,
And yet I need must curse .
Shak.

Curse noun [ Anglo-Saxon curs . See Curse , transitive verb ]
1. An invocation of, or prayer for, harm or injury; malediction.

Lady, you know no rules of charity,
Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses .
Shak.

2. Evil pronounced or invoked upon another, solemnly, or in passion; subjection to, or sentence of, divine condemnation.

The priest shall write these curses in a book.
Num. v. 23.

Curses , like chickens, come home to roost.
Old Proverb.

3. The cause of great harm, evil, or misfortune; that which brings evil or severe affliction; torment.

The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance.
Shak.

All that I eat, or drink, or shall beget,
Is propagated curse .
Milton.

The curse of Scotland (Card Playing) , the nine of diamonds. -- Not worth a curse . See under Cress .

Syn. -- Malediction; imprecation; execration. See Malediction .

Cursed adjective Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.

Let us fly this cursed place.
Milton.

This cursed quarrel be no more renewed.
Dryden.

Cursedly adverb In a cursed manner; miserably; in a manner to be detested; enormously. [ Low]

Cursedness noun
1. The state of being under a curse or of being doomed to execration or to evil.

2. Wickedness; sin; cursing. Chaucer.

3. Shrewishness. "My wife's cursedness ." Chaucer.

Curser noun One who curses.

Curship noun [ Cur + -ship .] The state of being a cur; one who is currish. [ Jocose]

How durst he, I say, oppose thy curship !
Hudibras.

Cursitating adjective [ See Cursitor .] Moving about slightly. [ R.] H. Bushnell.

Cursitor noun [ Late Latin cursitor , equiv. to Latin cursor , from cursare to run hither and thither, from currere to run. See Current , and confer Cursor .]
1. A courier or runner. [ Obsolete] " Cursitors to and fro." Holland.

2. (Eng.Law) An officer in the Court of Chancery, whose business is to make out original writs.

Cursive adjective [ Late Latin cursivus : confer French cursif See Cursitor .] Running; flowing.

Cursive hand , a running handwriting.

Cursive noun
1. A character used in cursive writing.

2. A manuscript, especially of the New Testament, written in small, connected characters or in a running hand; -- opposed to uncial . Shipley.

Cursor noun [ Latin , a runner. See Cursitor .] Any part of a mathematical instrument that moves or slides backward and forward upon another part.

Cursorary adjective Cursory; hasty. [ Obsolete]

With a cursorary eye o'erglanced the articles.
Shak.

Cursores noun plural [ Latin cursor , plural cursores , a runner.] (Zoology) (a) An order of running birds including the ostrich, emu, and allies; the Ratitaæ. (b) A group of running spiders; the wolf spiders.

Cursorial adjective (Zoology) (a) Adapted to running or walking, and not to prehension; as, the limbs of the horse are cursorial . See Illust. of Aves . (b) Of or pertaining to the Cursores .

Cursorily adverb In a running or hasty manner; carelessly.

Cursoriness noun The quality of being cursory; superficial performance; as, cursoriness of view.

Cursory adjective [ Latin cursorius , from cursor . See Cursor .]
1. Running about; not stationary. [ Obsolete]

2. Characterized by haste; hastily or superficially performed; slight; superficial; careless.

Events far too important to be treated in a cursory manner.
Hallam.

Curst (k?rst), imperfect & past participle of Curse .

Curst adjective [ See Curse .] Froward; malignant; mischievous; malicious; snarling. [ Obsolete]

Though his mind
Be ne'er so curst , his tonque is kind.
Crashaw.

Curstfully (-ful*lȳ) adverb Peevishly; vexatiously; detestably. [ Obsolete] " Curstfully mad." Marston.

Curstness (kûrst"nĕs) noun Peevishness; malignity; frowardness; crabbedness; surliness. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Curt (kŭrt) adjective [ Latin curtus ; confer Sanskrit kart to cut. Confer Curtail .] Characterized by excessive brevity; short; rudely concise; as, curt limits; a curt answer.

The curt , yet comprehensive reply.
W. Irving.

Curtail (kŭr*tāl") transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Curtailed (- tāld"); present participle & verbal noun Curtailing .] [ See Curtal .] To cut off the end or tail, or any part, of; to shorten; to abridge; to diminish; to reduce.

I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion.
Shak.

Our incomes have been curtailed ; his salary has been doubled.
Macaulay.

Curtail noun The scroll termination of any architectural member, as of a step, etc.

Curtail dog (dŏg`; 115). A dog with a docked tail; formerly, the 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 is necessary to a dog in running; hence, a dog not fit for sporting.

Hope is a curtail dog in some affairs.
Shak.

Curtailer (kŭr*tāl"ẽr) noun One who curtails.

Curtailment noun The act or result of curtailing or cutting off. Bancroft.