Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Curl

Curl (kûrl), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Curled (kûrld); p. pr. & vb. n. Curling.] [Akin to D. krullen, Dan. krölle, dial. Sw. krulla to curl, crisp; possibly akin to E. crook. Cf. Curl, n., Cruller.] 1. To twist or form into ringlets; to crisp, as the hair.

But curl their locks with bodkins and with braid. Cascoigne.

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. Milton.

3. To deck with, or as with, curls; to ornament.

Thicker than the snaky locks That curledMegæra. Milton.

Curling with metaphors a plain intention. Herbert.

4. To raise in waves or undulations; to ripple.

Seas would be pools without the brushing air To curl the waves. Dryden.

5. (Hat Making) To shape (the brim) into a curve.

Curl, v. i. 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. Shak.

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." Dryden.

Then round her slender waist he curled. Dryden.

Curling smokes from village tops are seen. Pope.

Gayly curl the waves before each dashing prow. Byron.

He smiled a king of sickly smile, and curled up on the floor. Bret Harte.

3. To play at the game called curling. [Scot.]

Curl (kûrl), n. [Akin to D. krul, Dan. krölle. 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. Milton.

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. Sir I. Newton.

3. A disease in potatoes, in which the leaves, at their first appearance, seem curled and shrunken.

Blue curls. (Bot.) See under Blue.

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 “?”.