curl

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

curl, v. t. [Akin to D. krullen, Dan. krölle, dial. Sw. krulla to curl, crisp; possibly akin to E. crook. Cf. Curl, n., Cruller.].

•  To twist or form into ringlets; to crisp, as the hair.  [1913 Webster]

  "But curl their locks with bodkins and with braid."  [1913 Webster]
•  To twist or make onto coils, as a serpent's body.  [1913 Webster]

  "Of his tortuous train,
  Curled many a wanton wreath in sight of Eve."  [1913 Webster]
•  To deck with, or as with, curls; to ornament.  [1913 Webster]

  "Thicker than the snaky locks
  That curledMegæra."  [1913 Webster]

  "Curling with metaphors a plain intention."  [1913 Webster]
•  To raise in waves or undulations; to ripple.  [1913 Webster]

  "Seas would be pools without the brushing air
  To curl the waves."  [1913 Webster]
•  To shape (the brim) into a curve.  [1913 Webster]

curl, 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.  [1913 Webster]

  "Thou seest it [hair] will not curl by nature."  [1913 Webster]
•  To move in curves, spirals, or undulations; to contract in curving outlines; to bend in a curved form; to make a curl or curls.  Dryden.  [1913 Webster]

  "Then round her slender waist he curled."  [1913 Webster]

  "Curling smokes from village tops are seen."  [1913 Webster]

  "Gayly curl the waves before each dashing prow."  [1913 Webster]

  "He smiled a king of sickly smile, and curled up on the floor."  [1913 Webster]
•  To play at the game called curling.  [1913 Webster]

curl, n. [Akin to D. krul, Dan. krölle. See Curl, v. ].

•  A ringlet, especially of hair; anything of a spiral or winding form.  [1913 Webster]

  "Under a coronet, his flowing hair
  In curls on either cheek played."  [1913 Webster]
•  An undulating or waving line or streak in any substance, as wood, glass, etc.; flexure; sinuosity.  [1913 Webster]

  "If the glass of the prisms . . . be without those numberless waves or curls which usually arise from the sand holes."  [1913 Webster]
•  A disease in potatoes, in which the leaves, at their first appearance, seem curled and shrunken.  [1913 Webster]

Blue curls. (Bot.) See under Blue.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

curl, v. & n.
--v.
1 tr. & intr. (often foll. by up) bend or coil into a spiral; form or cause to form curls.
2 intr. move in a spiral form (smoke curling upwards).
3 a intr. (of the upper lip) be raised slightly on one side as an expression of contempt or disapproval. b tr. cause (the lip) to do this.
4 intr. play curling.
--n.
1 a lock of curled hair.
2 anything spiral or curved inwards.
3 a a curling movement or act. b the state of being curled.
4 a disease of plants in which the leaves are curled up.

Idiom

curl up
1 lie or sit with the knees drawn up.
2 colloq. writhe with embarrassment or horror. make a person's hair curl colloq. shock or horrify a person. out of curl lacking energy.

Etymology

ME; earliest form crolled, crulled f. obs. adj. crolle, crulle curly f. MDu. krul

THESAURUS

curl

arc, arch, bend, bend back, bow, catacaustic, catenary, caustic, circle, cirrus, coil, conchoid, corkscrew, crimp, crisp, crook, curlicue, curve, decurve, deflect, diacaustic, dome, ellipse, embow, entwine, evolute, festoon, flex, frizz, frizzle, gyre, helix, hook, hump, hunch, hyperbola, incurvate, incurve, inflect, involute, kink, lituus, lock, loop, parabola, ponytail, recurve, reflect, reflex, retroflex, ringlet, roll, round, sag, screw, scroll, sinus, spiral, swag, sweep, swirl, tendril, tracery, turn, twine, twirl, twist, vault, volute, volution, vortex, whirl, whorl, wind, wreathe

ROGET THESAURUS

curl

Curvature

N curvature, curvity, curvation, incurvature, incurvity, incurvation, bend, flexure, flexion, flection, conflexure, crook, hook, bought, bending, deflection, deflexion, inflection, inflexion, concameration, arcuation, devexity, turn, deviation, detour, sweep, curl, curling, bough, recurvity, recurvation, sinuosity, kink, carve, arc, arch, arcade, vault, bow, crescent, half-moon, lunule, horseshoe, loop, crane neck, parabola, hyperbola, helix, spiral, catenary, festoon, conchoid, cardioid, caustic, tracery, arched ceiling, arched roof, bay window, bow window, sine curve, spline, spline curve, spline function, obliquity, curved, curviform, curvilineal, curvilinear, devex, devious, recurved, recurvous, crump, bowed, vaulted, hooked, falciform, falcated, semicircular, crescentic, sinusoid, parabolic, paraboloid, luniform, lunular, semilunar, conchoidal, helical, double helical, spiral, kinky, cordiform, cordated, cardioid, heart shaped, bell shaped, boat shaped, crescent shaped, lens shaped, moon shaped, oar shaped, shield shaped, sickle shaped, tongue shaped, pear shaped, fig shaped, kidney-shaped, reniform, lentiform, lenticular, bow-legged, oblique, circular, aduncated, arclike, arcuate, arched, beaked, bicorn, bicornuous, bicornute, clypeate, clypeiform, cymbiform, embowed, galeiform, hamate, hamiform, hamous, hooked, linguiform, lingulate, lobiform, lunate, navicular, peltate, remiform, rhamphoid, rostrate, rostriferous, rostroid, scutate, scaphoid, uncate, unguiculate, unguiform.

VB be curved curve, sweep, sway, swag, sag, deviate, curl, turn, reenter, render curved, flex, bend, curve, incurvate, inflect, deflect, scatter, refract (light), crook, turn, round, arch, arcuate, arch over, concamerate, bow, curl, recurve, frizzle, rotundity, convexity, be curved curve, sweep, sway, swag, sag, deviate, curl, turn, reenter, render curved, flex, bend, curve, incurvate, inflect, deflect, scatter, refract (light), crook, turn, round, arch, arcuate, arch over, concamerate, bow, curl, recurve, frizzle, rotundity, convexity.

Convolution

N convolution, winding, convolution, involution, circumvolution, wave, undulation, tortuosity, anfractuosity, sinuosity, sinuation, meandering, circuit, circumbendibus, twist, twirl, windings and turnings, ambages, torsion, inosculation, reticulation, rivulation, roughness, coil, roll, curl, buckle, spiral, helix, corkscrew, worm, volute, rundle, tendril, scollop, scallop, escalop, kink, ammonite, snakestone, serpent, eel, maze, labyrinth, knot, convoluted, winding, twisted, tortile, tortive, wavy, undated, undulatory, circling, snaky, snake-like, serpentine, serpent, anguill, vermiform, vermicular, mazy, tortuous, sinuous, flexuous, anfractuous, reclivate, rivulose, scolecoid, sigmoid, sigmoidal, spiriferous, spiroid, involved, intricate, complicated, perplexed, labyrinth, labyrinthic, labyrinthian, labyrinthine, peristaltic, daedalian, kinky, knotted, wreathy, frizzly, crepe, buckled, raveled, spiral, coiled, helical, cochleate, cochleous, screw-shaped, turbinated, turbiniform, in and out, round and round, a can of worms, Gordian knot.

VB be convoluted, wind, twine, turn and twist, twirl, wave, undulate, meander, inosculate, entwine, intwine, twist, coil, roll, wrinkle, curl, crisp, twill, frizzle, crimp, crape, indent, scollop, scallop, wring, intort, contort, wreathe.

Roughness

N roughness, tooth, grain, texture, ripple, asperity, rugosity, salebrosity, corrugation, nodosity, arborescence, pilosity, brush, hair, beard, shag, mane, whisker, moustache, imperial, tress, lock, curl, ringlet, fimbriae, pili, cilia, villi, lovelock, beaucatcher, curl paper, goatee, papillote, scalp lock, plumage, plumosity, plume, panache, crest, feather, tuft, fringe, toupee, wool, velvet, plush, nap, pile, floss, fur, down, byssus, moss, bur, fluff, knot (convolution), rough, uneven, scabrous, scaly, knotted, rugged, rugose, rugous, knurly, asperous, crisp, salebrous, gnarled, unpolished, unsmooth, roughhewn, craggy, cragged, crankling, scraggy, prickly, arborescent, leafy, well-wooded, feathery, plumose, plumigerous, laciniate, laciniform, laciniose, pappose, pileous, pilose, trichogenous, trichoid, tufted, fimbriated, hairy, ciliated, filamentous, hirsute, crinose, crinite, bushy, hispid, villous, pappous, bearded, pilous, shaggy, shagged, fringed, befringed, setous, setose, setaceous, like quills upon the fretful porcupine, rough as a nutmeg grater, rough as a bear, downy, velvety, flocculent, woolly, lanate, lanated, lanuginous, lanuginose, tomentose, fluffy, against the grain, cabello luengo y corto el seso.

Fold

VB fold, double, plicate, plait, crease, wrinkle, crinkle, crankle, curl, cockle up, cocker, rimple, rumple, flute, frizzle, frounce, rivel, twill, corrugate, ruffle, crimple, crumple, pucker, turn down, double down, down under, tuck, ruck, hem, gather.