v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Curled 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

But curl their locks with bodkins and with braid. Cascoigne. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To twist or make onto coils, as a serpent's body. [ 1913 Webster ]

Of his tortuous train,
Curled many a wanton wreath in sight of Eve. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To deck with, or as with, curls; to ornament. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thicker than the snaky locks
That curledMegæra. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Curling with metaphors a plain intention. Herbert. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To raise in waves or undulations; to ripple. [ 1913 Webster ]

Seas would be pools without the brushing air
To curl the waves. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Hat Making) To shape (the brim) into a curve. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou seest it [ hair ] will not curl by nature. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Then round her slender waist he curled. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Curling smokes from village tops are seen. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

Gayly curl the waves before each dashing prow. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

He smiled a king of sickly smile, and curled up on the floor. Bret Harte. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To play at the game called curling. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Akin to D. krul, Dan. krölle. See Curl, v. ] 1. A ringlet, especially of hair; anything of a spiral or winding form. [ 1913 Webster ]

Under a coronet, his flowing hair
In curls on either cheek played. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An undulating or waving line or streak in any substance, as wood, glass, etc.; flexure; sinuosity. [ 1913 Webster ]

If the glass of the prisms . . . be without those numberless waves or curls which usually arise from the sand holes. Sir I. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A disease in potatoes, in which the leaves, at their first appearance, seem curled and shrunken. [ 1913 Webster ]

Blue curls. (Bot.) See under Blue. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having curls; curly; sinuous; wavy; as, curled maple (maple having fibers which take a sinuous course). [ 1913 Webster ]

Curled hair (Com.), the hair of the manes and tails of horses, prepared for upholstery purposes. McElrath. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. State of being curled; curliness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, curls. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A player at the game called curling. Burns. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A small cylindrical object sometimes having a clamping attachment, around which hair is wound so as to produce curls; as, she slept all night with a head full of curlers. [ PJC ]

4. an electrical appliance with a handle and a metal rod-shaped tip which is heated and around which hair is wound, to produce curls in the hair; -- called also curling iron. [ PJC ]

n. [ F. courlieu, corlieu, courlis; perh. of imitative origin, but cf. OF. corlieus courier; L. currere to run + levis light. ] (Zool.) A wading bird of the genus Numenius, remarkable for its long, slender, curved bill. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The common European curlew is Numenius arquatus. The long-billed (Numenius longirostris), the Hudsonian (Numenius Hudsonicus), and the Eskimo curlew (Numenius borealis, are American species. The name is said to imitate the note of the European species. [ 1913 Webster ]

Curlew Jack (Zool.) the whimbrel or lesser curlew. --
Curlew sandpiper (Zool.), a sandpiper (Tringa ferruginea or Tringa subarquata), common in Europe, rare in America, resembling a curlew in having a long, curved bill. See Illustation in Appendix. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 curlycue or carlicue. ] [ Colloq. U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. State of being curly. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A scottish game in which heavy weights of stone or iron are propelled by hand over the ice towards a mark. [ 1913 Webster ]

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). [ 1913 Webster ]

Curling irons,
Curling tong, an instrument for curling the hair; -- commonly heated when used. Called also curler{ 4 }. [ 1913 Webster ]