a. [ OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure. ] 1. Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ] Little curious in her clothes. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ] How shall we,
If he be curious, work upon his faith? Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. Exhibiting care or nicety; artfully constructed; elaborate; wrought with elegance or skill. [ 1913 Webster ] To devise curious works. Ex. xxxv. 32 [ 1913 Webster ] His body couched in a curious bed. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. Careful or anxious to learn; eager for knowledge; given to research or inquiry; habitually inquisitive; prying; -- sometimes with after or of. [ 1913 Webster ] It is a pity a gentleman so very curious after things that were elegant and beautiful should not have been as curious as to their origin, their uses, and their natural history. Woodward. [ 1913 Webster ] 4. Exciting attention or inquiry; awakening surprise; inviting and rewarding inquisitiveness; not simple or plain; strange; rare. “Acurious tale” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ] A multitude of curious analogies. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ] Many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore. E. A. Poe. [ 1913 Webster ] Abstruse investigations in recondite branches of learning or sciense often bring to light curious results. C. J. Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]
Curious arts, magic. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ] Many . . . which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them. Acts xix. 19.
Syn. -- Inquisitive; prying. See Inquisitive. [ 1913 Webster ] | 
