Link Centre Dictionary

curl

UK/kɜːl/ US/kʰəːɫ/ fairly common
verb (5) noun (3)

verb

1.

form a curl, curve, or kink

  • “the cigar smoke curled up at the ceiling”
Synonyms
2.

shape one''s body into a curl

  • “She curled farther down under the covers”
  • “She fell and drew in”
Synonyms
3.

wind around something in coils or loops

Synonyms
Antonyms
4.

twist or roll into coils or ringlets

  • “curl my hair, please”
Synonyms
5.

noun

1.

a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles (as formed by leaves or flower petals)

Synonyms
2.

American chemist who with Richard Smalley and Harold Kroto discovered fullerenes and opened a new branch of chemistry (born in 1933)

Synonyms
3.

Origin

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”).

Phrases

  • barbell curl
  • bicep curl
  • biceps curl
  • blue curls
  • cable curl
  • cheat curl
  • cheese curl
  • concentration curl
  • curl one off
  • curl one out
  • curl someone's hair
  • curl up

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

Related verbs

Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.