Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Curb

Curb (k?rb), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Curbed (k?rbd); p. pr. & vb. n. Curbing.] [F. courber to bend, curve, L. curvare, fr. curvus bent, curved; cf. Gr. κυρτός curved. Cf. Curve.] 1. To bend or curve [Obs.]

Crooked and curbed lines. Holland.

2. To guide and manage, or restrain, as with a curb; to bend to one's will; to subject; to subdue; to restrain; to confine; to keep in check.

Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed. Milton.

Where pinching want must curbthy warm desires. Prior.

3. To furnish wich a curb, as a well; also, to restrain by a curb, as a bank of earth.

Curb, v. i. To bend; to crouch; to cringe. [Obs.]

Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg, Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good. Shak.

Curb, n. 1. That which curbs, restrains, or subdues; a check or hindrance; esp., a chain or strap attached to the upper part of the branches of a bit, and capable of being drawn tightly against the lower jaw of the horse.

He that before ran in the pastures wild Felt the stiff curb control his angry jaws. Drayton.

By these men, religion,that should be The curb, is made the spur of tyranny. Denham.

2. (Arch.) An assemblage of three or more pieces of timber, or a metal member, forming a frame around an opening, and serving to maintain the integrity of that opening; also, a ring of stone serving a similar purpose, as at the eye of a dome.

3. A frame or wall round the mouth of a well; also, a frame within a well to prevent the earth caving in.

4. A curbstone.

5. (Far.) A swelling on the back part of the hind leg of a horse, just behind the lowest part of the hock joint, generally causing lameness. James Law.

Curb bit, a stiff bit having branches by which a leverage is obtained upon the jaws of horse. Knight. — Curb pins (Horology), the pins on the regulator which restrain the hairspring. — Curb plate (Arch.), a plate serving the purpose of a curb. — Deck curb. See under Deck.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.