Curl
[kɜːl] or [kɝl]
Definition
(noun.) American chemist who with Richard Smalley and Harold Kroto discovered fullerenes and opened a new branch of chemistry (born in 1933).
(verb.) form a curl, curve, or kink; 'the cigar smoke curled up at the ceiling'.
(verb.) play the Scottish game of curling.
(verb.) twist or roll into coils or ringlets; 'curl my hair, please'.
Typist: Ted--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) To twist or form into ringlets; to crisp, as the hair.
(n.) To twist or make onto coils, as a serpent's body.
(n.) To deck with, or as with, curls; to ornament.
(n.) To raise in waves or undulations; to ripple.
(n.) To shape (the brim) into a curve.
(v. i.) To contract or bend into curls or ringlets, as hair; to grow in curls or spirals, as a vine; to be crinkled or contorted; to have a curly appearance; as, leaves lie curled on the ground.
(v. i.) To move in curves, spirals, or undulations; to contract in curving outlines; to bend in a curved form; to make a curl or curls.
(v. i.) To play at the game called curling.
(v.) A ringlet, especially of hair; anything of a spiral or winding form.
(v.) An undulating or waving line or streak in any substance, as wood, glass, etc.; flexure; sinuosity.
(v.) A disease in potatoes, in which the leaves, at their first appearance, seem curled and shrunken.
Editor: Lorna
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Ringlet.[2]. Sinuosity, undulation, flexure, wave.
v. a. [1]. Crisp, turn in ringlets.[2]. Writhe, wind, twist.[3]. Raise in waves.
v. n. Be bent into curls or waves.
Typed by Helga
Definition
v.t. to twist into ringlets: to coil.—v.i. to shrink into ringlets: to rise in undulations: to writhe: to ripple: to play at the game of curling.—n. a ringlet of hair or what is like it: a wave bending or twist.—adjs. Curled; Curled′-pate (Shak.) having curled hair.—ns. Curl′er one who or that which curls: a player at the game of curling; Curl′icue a fantastic curl; Curl′iewurlie (Scot.) any fantastic round ornament; Curl′iness; Curl′ing a game common in Scotland consisting in hurling heavy smooth stones along a sheet of ice.—ns.pl. Curl′ing ī′rons Curl′ing-tongs an iron instrument used for curling the hair.—n. Curl′ing-stone a heavy stone with a handle used in curling.—adjs. Curl′y having curls: full of curls; Curl′y-head′ed.
Checked by Darren
Examples
- One curl of a girl's ringlet, one hair of a whisker, will turn the scale against them all in a minute. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Miss Moss, a dark-eyed maid in curl-papers, appeared with the teapot, and, smiling, asked the Colonel how he had slep? William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Standing before the dressing-glass was a middle-aged lady, in yellow curl-papers, busily engaged in brushing what ladies call their 'back-hair. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- I asked my friend, the young Marquis of Worcester, why he did not curl his straight locks. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- There he leant over the wall and lowered the lamp, only to behold the vortex formed at the curl of the returning current. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- It will be remembered that Senator Roscoe Conkling, then very prominent, had a curl of hair on his forehead; and all the caricaturists developed it abnormally. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- But it does not curl around inside of you the way the absinthe does, he thought. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- Monsieur curled his lip, gave me a vicious glance of the eye, and strode to his estrade. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Mr. Dick, who is to give my darling to me at the altar, has had his hair curled. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- The corners of the Sergeant's melancholy mouth curled up, and he looked hard in my face, just as he had looked in the garden. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- I found Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- And here, Noah nodded his head expressively; and curled up as much of his small red nose as muscular action could collect together, for the occasion. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- She curled her legs between his and rubbed the top of her head against his shoulder. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- These flat brims curled at the edge came in then. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Eva's curls are my pride. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- I would almost as soon believe that the cat curls the end of its tail when preparing to spring, in order to warn the doomed mouse. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- The very barristers' wigs are ill-powdered, and their curls lack crispness. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Put one in mine then, that I wish all my curls cut off, and given round to my friends. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Those deep gray eyes rather near together--and the delicate irregular nose with a sort of ripple in it--and all the powdered curls hanging backward. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- He had light-brown curls. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Chancing for an instant to look down, his glance rested on an uplifted face, flushed, smiling, happy, shaded with silky curls, lit with fine eyes. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- She had always a new bonnet on, and flowers bloomed perpetually in it, or else magnificent curling ostrich feathers, soft and snowy as camellias. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- The boy was a handsome, bright-eyed mulatto, of just Henrique's size, and his curling hair hung round a high, bold forehead. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- In this young sportsman, distinguished by a crisply curling auburn head and a bluff countenance, the Secretary descried the orphan. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- It was the precise, crackling, curling roll of automatic rifle fire. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- Their most trivial action may mean volumes, or their most extraordinary conduct may depend upon a hairpin or a curling tongs. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- As the wax dropped into the fire a long flame arose from the spot, and curling its tongue round the figure ate still further into its substance. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- You needn't do that, said Crispin, curling his lip as he observed the action; we are not going to punish you. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
Editor: Nita