Part 720

Curl"ing, n. 1. The act or state of that which curls; as, the curling of smoke when it rises; the curling of a ringlet; also, the act or process of one who curls something, as hair, or the brim of hats.

2. A scottish game in which heavy weights of stone or iron are propelled by hand over the ice towards a mark.

Curling . . . is an amusement of the winter, and played on the ice, by sliding from one mark to another great stones of 40 to 70 pounds weight, of a hemispherical form, with an iron or wooden handle at top. The object of the player is to lay his stone as near to the mark as possible, to guard that of his partner, which has been well laid before, or to strike off that of his antagonist. Pennant (Tour in Scotland. 1772).

Curling irons, Curling tong, an instrument for curling the hair; -- commonly heated when used.

Curl"ing*ly, adv. With a curl, or curls.

Curl"y (k?rl"?), a. Curling or tending to curl; having curls; full of ripples; crinkled.

Curl"y*cue (k?rl"?-k?), n. [Cf. F. caracole.] Some thing curled or spiral,, as a flourish made with a pen on paper, or with skates on the ice; a trick; a frolicsome caper. [Sometimes written carlicue.] [ Colloq. U.S.]

To cut a curlycue, to make a flourish; to cut a caper.

I gave a flourishing about the room and cut a curlycue with my right foot. McClintock.

Cur*mudg"eon (k?r-m?j"?n), n. [OE. cornmudgin, where -mudgin is prob. from OF. muchier, mucier, F. musser to hide; of uncertain origin; cf. OE. muchares skulking thieves, E. miche, micher.] An avaricious, grasping fellow; a miser; a niggard; a churl.

A gray-headed curmudgeon of a negro. W. Irving.

Cur*mudg"eon*ly, a. Like a curmudgeon; niggardly; churlish; as, a curmudgeonly fellow.

Cur*mur"ring (k?r-m?r"r?ng), n. Murmuring; grumbling; -- sometimes applied to the rumbling produced by a slight attack of the gripes. [Scot.] Burns.

Curr (k?r), v. i. [Prob. imitative.] To coo. [Scot.]

The owlets hoot, the owlets curr. Wordsworth.

Cur"rant (k?r"rant), n. [F. corinthe (raisins de Corinthe raisins of Corinth) currant (in sense 1), from the city of Corinth in Greece, whence, probably, the small dried grape (1) was first imported, the Ribes fruit (2) receiving the name from its resemblance to that grape.]

1. A small kind of seedless raisin, imported from the Levant, chiefly from Zante and Cephalonia; -- used in cookery.

2. The acid fruit or berry of the Ribes rubrum or common red currant, or of its variety, the white currant.

3. (Bot.) A shrub or bush of several species of the genus Ribes (a genus also including the gooseberry); esp., the Ribes rubrum.

Black currant,a shrub or bush (Ribes nigrum and R. floridum) and its black, strong- flavored, tonic fruit. -- Cherry currant, a variety of the red currant, having a strong, symmetrical bush and a very large berry. -- Currant borer (Zo÷l.), the larva of an insect that bores into the pith and kills currant bushes; specif., the larvae of a small clearwing moth (Ăgeria tipuliformis) and a longicorn beetle (Psenocerus supernotatus). -- Currant worm (Zo÷l.), an insect larva which eats the leaves or fruit of the currant. The most injurious are the currant sawfly (Nematus ventricosus), introduced from Europe, and the spanworm (Eufitchia ribearia). The fruit worms are the larva of a fly (Epochra Canadensis), and a spanworm (Eupithecia). -- Flowering currant, Missouri currant, a species of Ribes (R. aureum), having showy yellow flowers.

Cur"ren*cy (k?r"r?n-c?), n.; pl. Currencies (-s&?;z). [Cf. LL. currentia a current, fr. L. currens, p. pr. of currere to run. See Current.] 1. A continued or uninterrupted course or flow like that of a stream; as, the currency of time. [Obs.] Ayliffe.

2. The state or quality of being current; general acceptance or reception; a passing from person to person, or from hand to hand; circulation; as, a report has had a long or general currency; the currency of bank notes.

3. That which is in circulation, or is given and taken as having or representing value; as, the currency of a country; a specie currency; esp., government or bank notes circulating as a substitute for metallic money.

4. Fluency; readiness of utterance. [Obs.]

5. Current value; general estimation; the rate at which anything is generally valued.

He . . . takes greatness of kingdoms according to their bulk and currency, and not after intrinsic value. Bacon.

The bare name of Englishman . . . too often gave a transient currency to the worthless and ungrateful. W. Irving.

Cur"rent (k?r"rent), a. [OE. currant, OF. curant, corant, p. pr. of curre, corre, F. courre, courir, to run, from L. currere; perh. akin to E. horse. Cf. Course, Concur, Courant, Coranto.] 1. Running or moving rapidly. [Archaic]