Cf. also Du. krul, MDu. krulle, krolle, MLG. krul, LG. krulle, MHG. krolle, krol, mod.Ger. dial. krolle curl, lock of hair, ON. krul, Norw. krull, Da. krölle; which seem to be derived immediately from the adj.: see CRULL.]
1. A lock of hair of a spiral or convolute form; a ringlet.
Applied indifferently to a flat spiral like the mainspring of a watch, a cork-screw-like form (helix), or anything intermediate to or approaching these forms.
1602. Shaks., Ham., III. iv. 56. Hyperions curles, the front of Ioue himselfe.
1665. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 132. Their hair was long and dangling in curls.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 102, ¶ 7. To … adjust a Curl of Hair.
1856. Miss Mulock, J. Halifax, ii. He tossed back his curls, and looked smiling out through the window.
2. Anything of a similar spiral or incurved shape; a coil, wreath, convolution, undulation.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., XXIII. (R.). [An oar] which breakes The waues in curles.
a. 1634. Randolph, Poems (1638), 12. About each limbe he hurles His wanton body into numerous curles.
1676. Grew, Anat. Plants, IV. I. i. § 11. The several Labels of a Groundsel-Leaf are all laid in a Back-Curl.
1774. T. Twining, in Recreat. & Stud. (1882), 30. Purcell, with all his old curls and twiddles, is perfection to him.
1832. G. Downes, Lett. Cont. Countries, I. 387. Here and there were curls of smoke.
3. The action of curling, or state of being curled.
1665. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 188. In calm weather … the water is pacifique and without the least visible curl or wrinkle.
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. III. iv. 27. It [the breeze] comes in a fine, small, black Curle upon the Water.
1793. Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts (ed. 2), IV. 47. The waves … spend their fury in a gentle curl up the slope.
1835. Whittier, Hunters of Men, iii. Hunting the black man, whose sin Is the curl of his hair and the hue of his skin!
Mod. To keep the hair in curl.
b. Curl of the lip: a slight elevation or bending of the upper lip, expressive of scorn or disgust.
1813. Byron, Corsair, I. x. The lip’s least curl, the lightest paleness … speak alone Of deeper passions.
1857. H. Spencer, Orig. Music, Ess. 1891, II. 402. Disgust [is shown] by a curl of the lip.
c. Angling. An eddy in a stream; also a ripple on the surface of water caused by the wind.
1766. Bowlker, Univ. Angler, 132. Throw … into holes and curls of the water, for there the best fish commonly lie.
1834. Medwin, Angler in Wales, I. 47. See, the fish are rising … I think I can reach the curl yonder.
1855. Kingsley, Glaucus (1878), 19. The breeze has come on, and there has been half-an-hour’s lively fishing curl.
4. A disease of potatoes, in which the shoots are curled up and imperfectly developed; a disease of other plants, in which the leaves are curled up.
1790. Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts, VIII. 29. The [potato] crops … have … grown up sound and good, and free from Curl.
1832. Veg. Subst. Food, 148. The curl first made its appearance in this country in … 1764, in Lancashire.
1866. Treas. Bot., 363. Curl, a formidable disease in potatoes, referrible to Chlorosis, in which the tubers produce deformed curled shoots … which are never perfectly developed.
1882. Garden, 25 Feb., 133/2. Curl.—This generally occurs when the Roses have been occupying the ground for a very long period of time.
b. A potato affected with this disease.
1791. Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts, IX. 61. Why some Curls appear in a crop that has been carefully managed.
5. Comb., as curl-crested, -faced, -headed adjs.; curl-tuft; curl-cloth, a kind of woollen cloth with a curly surface; curl-cloud, = CIRRUS 4.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Crespo, curle headed.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., VI. xxi. 108. Long bearded, curle-headed.
1611. Cotgr., Volute … the writhen circle, or curle-tuft that … sticks out of the chapter of a piller, &c.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., xiv. 227. The curle-fac’t bull.
1695. Ld. Preston, Boethius, I. 7. And raise the curle-headed Wave.
1817. Blackw. Mag., I. 637/2. The sky was full of cirrus or curlcloud.
1885. Daily News, 6 Oct., 3/2. In cloth it [astrakhan] is used for coats and jackets…. It is sometimes called curl cloth.
