Curl
Curl (kûrl) , transitive verb
[Akin to Dutch krullen, Danish krolle, dial. Swedish krulla to curl, crisp; possibly akin to English crook. Compare Curl, n., Cruller.]
1.
To twist or form into ringlets; to crisp, as the hair.
But curl their locks with bodkins and with braid.
2.
To twist or make onto coils, as a serpent's body.
Of his tortuous train,
Curled many a wanton wreath in sight of Eve.
3.
To deck with, or as with, curls; to ornament.
Thicker than the snaky locks
That curledMegara.
Curling with metaphors a plain intention.
4.
To raise in waves or undulations; to ripple.
Seas would be pools without the brushing air
To curl the waves.
5.
(Hat Making) To shape (the brim) into a curve.
Curl , intransitive verb
1.
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.
Thou seest it [hair] will not curl by nature.
2.
To move in curves, spirals, or undulations; to contract in curving outlines; to bend in a curved form; to make a curl or curls.
Cirling billows.
Then round her slender waist he curled.
Curling smokes from village tops are seen.
Gayly curl the waves before each dashing prow.
He smiled a king of sickly smile, and curled up on the floor.
3.
To play at the game called curling. [Scottish]
Curl (kûrl) , noun
[Akin to Dutch krul, Danish krolle. See Curl, v. ]
1.
A ringlet, especially of hair; anything of a spiral or winding form.
Under a coronet, his flowing hair
In curls on either cheek played.
2.
An undulating or waving line or streak in any substance, as wood, glass, etc.; flexure; sinuosity.
If the glass of the prisms... be without those numberless waves or curls which usually arise from the sand holes.
3.
A disease in potatoes, in which the leaves, at their first appearance, seem curled and shrunken.