English Explanatory Dictionary

curl

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A curving piece or lock of hair; a ringlet.
  2. A curved stroke or shape.
  3. A spin making the trajectory of an object curve.
  4. Movement of a moving rock away from a straight line.
  5. Any exercise performed by bending the arm, wrist, or leg on the exertion against resistance, especially those that train the biceps.
  6. The vector field denoting the rotationality of a given vector field.
  7. The vector operator, denoted rm curl; or ⃑∇×⃑(·), that generates this field.
  8. Any of various diseases of plants causing the leaves or shoots to curl up; often specifically the potato curl.
  9. The contrasting light and dark figure seen in wood used for stringed instrument making; the flame.
  10. A pattern where the receiver appears to be running a fly pattern but after a set number of steps or yards quickly stops and turns around, looking for a pass.
  11. A thin, curved piece of chocolate used as decoration.
  12. The concave part of a breaking wave.
verb
  1. To cause to move in a curve.
  2. To make into a curl or spiral.
  3. To assume the shape of a curl or spiral.
  4. To move in curves.
  5. To take part in the sport of curling.
  6. To exercise by bending the arm, wrist, or leg on the exertion against resistance, especially of the biceps.
  7. To twist or form (the hair, etc.) into ringlets.
  8. To deck with, or as if with, curls; to ornament.
  9. To raise in waves or undulations; to ripple.
  10. To shape (the brim of a hat) into a curve.
name
  1. A surname.
noun
  1. Ellipsis of American Curl.

Pronunciation

/kɜːl/ [kʰəːɫ] /kɜɹl/ [kʰɝɫ] en-us-curl.ogg /kʌrl/ [kʰʌrɫ] [kʰʌɾɫ] /keːl/ /kɛːl/

Word forms

curl curls curling curled

Etymology

From metathesis of Middle English crulle (“curled, curly”), of uncertain origin but probably from an unrecorded Old English word or from Middle Dutch crul, crulle (“curl”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kruzlǭ (“bent or crooked object, curl”), connected to *krūsą (“curl”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Krulle (“curl, lock”), West Frisian krul (“curl”), Dutch krul (“curl”), German Low German Krull (“curl”), dialectal German Krolle (“curl”), Danish krølle (“curl”), Norwegian Bokmål krøll (“curl”). Related also to Saterland Frisian Kruus (“curl”), German kraus (“frizzy, crumpled, curly”), Danish krus (“curl”), Swedish krusa (“to crimp, curl”). Compare also Gothic 𐌺𐍂𐌹𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (kriustan, “to grind, crush, gnash”).

Synonyms

ringlet curlicue curve flourish loop spiral mul:∇× arch coil roll up billow

Antonyms

extension straighten uncoil unroll

Related words

coil

Derived words

barbell curl becurl bicep curl biceps curl bluecurls blue curls cable curl cheat curl cheese curl concentration curl curl bar curl grub curlicue curliness curlless curl-paper curlpaper curls for the girls curl snake curlsome curl-up curly dumbbell curl hammer curl high-cable curl Jerry curl Jheri curl kiss-curl kiss curl leaf curl leg curl lipcurl love curl machine curl pin curl preacher curl reverse curl scalar curl spit curl trunk curl Utah curls wrist curl Zottman curl querl upcurl curlable curled curler curling curling iron curlingly curling tongs curl one off curl one out curl someone's hair curl up hair-curling hair curling leaf-curling spider make someone's hair curl

Translations

Asturian: rotor Asturian: rotacional Bulgarian: ротор Catalan: rotacional Czech: rotace Dutch: rotatie Finnish: roottori French: rotationnel Galician: rotacional Italian: rotore Polish: rotacja Portuguese: rotacional Russian: ро́тор Spanish: rotacional Swedish: rotation
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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