Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Cur |
CurAdjective1. Of inferior or mixed breed; "a cur dog"; "an underbred dog". Noun1. An inferior dog or one of mixed breed. 2. A cowardly and despicable person. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "cur" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1386. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Food & Agriculture | A --, or cur, is a dog of unknown ancestry. Source: European Union. (references) |
Literature | Cur A fawning, mean-spirited fellow, a crop-tailed dog (Latin, curtus, crop-tailed. French, court; our curt). According to forest laws, a man who had no right to the privilege of the chase was obliged to cut off the tail of his dog. Hence, a degenerate dog or man is called a cur. "What would you have, you curs, That like nor peace nor war?" Shakespeare: Coriolanus, i. 1. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Slang in 1811 | CUR. A cut or curtailed dog. According to the forest laws, a man who had no right to the privilege of the chase, was obliged to cut or law his dog: among other modes of disabling him from disturbing the game, one was by depriving him of his tail: a dog so. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
CUR | English | Complex utility routine | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: CurSynonyms: cur(a) (adj), mixed (adj), mongrel(a) (adj), scrub(a) (adj), underbred (adj), mongrel (n), mutt (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Animal | Dog, hound; pup, puppy; whelp, cur, mongrel; house dog, watch dog, sheep dog, shepherd's dog, sporting dog, fancy dog, lap dog, toy dog, bull dog, badger dog; mastiff; blood hound, grey hound, stag hound, deer hound, fox hound, otter hound; harrier, beagle, spaniel, pointer, setter, retriever; Newfoundland; water dog, water spaniel; pug, poodle; turnspit; terrier; fox terrier, Skye terrier; Dandie Dinmont; collie. |
Bad Man | Blackguard, polisson, loafer, sneak; rapscallion, rascallion; cullion, mean wretch, varlet, kern, ame-de-boue, drole; cur, dog, hound, whelp, mongrel; lown, loon, runnion, outcast, vagabond; rogue; (knave); ronian; scum of the earth, riffraff; Arcades ambo. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Cur |
| English words defined with "cur": currish, Curship ♦ mixed, mongrel ♦ Quadrans ♦ scrub ♦ underbred ♦ Wappet. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "cur": Elegy ♦ HONORABLE ♦ SNEAKSBY. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Cur" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Irish (putting, setting), Latin (for what reason, on account of which because, purpose, what for, wherefore, why), Manx (communicate, consign, give, lay, lead, place, put, render, site), Romanian (ass), Scottish (a placing, snowing. See <A HREF="mf04.html#cuir">cuir</A>, sowing), Welsh (ache, beat, care, pain, throb, trouble). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Prussian Cur (1918) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Quintus Curtius Rufus | A cowardly cur barks more fiercely than it bites. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | A very lean cur was passing. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | ELEGY, n. A composition in verse, in which, without employing any of the methods of humor, the writer aims to produce in the reader's mind the dampest kind of dejection. The most famous English example begins somewhat like this: The cur foretells the knell of parting day; The loafing herd winds slowly o'er the lea; The wise man homeward plods; I only stay To fiddle-faddle in a minor key. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Cur" is generally used as an unclassified items -- approximately 46.43% of the time. "Cur" is used about 28 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Unclassified Items | 46.43% | 13 | 97,576 |
| Noun (singular) | 39.29% | 11 | 106,044 |
| Noun (proper) | 10.71% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 3.57% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 28 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "cur"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | qen rrugësh, njeri i paedukuar (ill-mannered person, know-nothing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | كلب غزر, جبان (apprehensive, chicken, chicken heart, chicken hearted, coward, cowardly, faint, fearful, fearsome, funk, funky, heartless, lily livered, pigeon-hearted, poor spirited, pusillanimous, scared, sheepish, shy, sissified, sissy, spiritless, timid, timorous, tremulous, unmanly, weak-kneed), اللئيم, الخسيس (skinflint, wretch). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | куче (dog, hound, pooch, tike), пес (dog, mutt, tike, tyke). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | voříšek. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | stikke ud (cur away), skære væk (cur away), fin,lamellar perlit,hvor karbidlamellerne findes som korte,ofte bugtede,uregelmaessigt fordelte stave (broken and irregular rods, fine lamellar pearlite, in which the carbide lamellae oc cur as short). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | wegsteken (cur away), fijn lamellair perliet waarin lamellaire carbiden als korte,vaak gebroken lamellen onregelmatig verdeeld voorkomen (broken and irregular rods, fine lamellar pearlite, in which the carbide lamellae oc cur as short). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | سگ دورگه , سگ بداصل (Yap). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | rakkikoira, rakki. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | cabot, sale chien, maltrou, lâché. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | köter (curs, damn dog, mongrel, monster, pooch, tyke, tykes). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | κοπρόσκυλο, κοπρίτησ, παλιόσκυλο (mutt). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מו' לב (chicken hearted, coward, lily livered, pigeonhearted, poltroon, recreant, weakkneed), כלב חוצות. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | semmi ember (cipher, cypher), korcs (bastard, degenerate, hybrid, misbegotten, mongrel, tyke). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | bangsat (BEDBUG, knave), anjing kampung. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | cane bastardo (mongrel, mutt, tyke). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 駄犬 (mongrel). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | け" (keystroke, mongrel). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | coo (dog, hound, wolf-dog), kercheen (base person, cringe of person; underling, cringe; underling, cullion, cur person, down-and-out, henchman, rotter, servile person, vagabond, wretch). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | urcay cachorro (dog, pup, whelp), vira-lata (pooch). (various references) câine rãu, ticãlos (a bad egg, base, cad, canting, dark, dirty, felon, foul, heel, hound, impious, kite, knave, knavish, knavishly, low-minded, mean, meanly, miscreant, paltry, perverse, picaroon, rapscallion, rascal, rascally, recreant, reprobate, ruffian, scab, scabby, scamp, scoundrel, scurvy, serpentine, shabby, skunk, sneak, sneaking, vile, villain, villainous, wretch, wretched), potaie (pack), mojic (boor, cad, churl, hawbuck), laş (base-spirited, chicken hearted, coward, cowardly, Craven, dastard, dastardly, faint-hearted, funk, hen-hearted, invertebrate, lily livered, milk-livered, mollycoddle, pigeon-hearted, poltroon, recreant, sneak, sneaky, unmanly, white livered, yellow), jigodie, javrã (whelp, yelper), fricos (apprehensive, caitiff, chicken hearted, coward, cowardly, Craven, dastard, eerie, eery, faint-hearted, fearful, funky, hare-hearted, hen-hearted, lily livered, milk-livered, mollycoddle, Patsi, pigeon-hearted, piker, poltroon, poor spirited, pusillanimous, shy, spiritless, timid, timorous, white livered, yellow). (various references) трусливый нахал, дворняжка (mongrel, mutt, pariah dog, pooch, tyke). (various references) nitkov (blackguard, cad, scamp, scoundrel), mešanac (half breed, mixed-blood). (various references) canalla (blackguard, cad, heel, hound, mob, outsider, rabble, rat, riff raff, scab, scalawag, scallawag, scallywag, scapegrace, scoundrel, skunk, stinker, swine, you cad), vil (abject, contemptible, despicable, foul, lousy, low, low down, lower, mean, mean-spirited, miserable, nefarious, rotten, scurvily, scurvy, sordid, squalid, vile), perro chusco o de mala casta, de mala raza. (various references) byracka (mongrel). (various references) sokak köpeği (pariah dog, stray dog, tike, tyke), it (dog, mutt, pooch). (various references) грубіян (bearish, bucko, cad, chuff, churl, nowt, snapper, termagant, twerp, tyke, ugly customer), боягуз (capon, chicken-liver, coward, niddering, piker, quitter, rabbit, recreant, sneak), дворняжка (mongrel, mutt, pi-dock, pooch, tyke). (various references) con chó toi, kẻ vô giáo dục, kẻ hèn nhát (craven). (various references) costog (mastiff, surly), corgi. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Date | Source | Genesis Chapter 40, Verse 7 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Kai hrwta touV eunoucouV faraw oi hsan met' autou en th fulakh para tw kuriw autou legwn ti oti ta proswpa umwn skuqrwpa shmeron |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Sciscitatus est dicens cur tristior est hodie solito facies vestra |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | And sawy hem drery, askide hem, seiynge, Whi dreryer is youre face to day than it was wonte? |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | And he asked them saynge wherfore loke ye so sadly to daye? |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him in the ward of his lord's house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to day? |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him in the ward of his lord's house, saying, Why look ye so sad to-day? |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And he said to the servants of Pharaoh who were in prison with him, Why are you looking so sad? |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Genesis Chapter 40, Verse 7 |
| Cebuano | Ug nangutana siya sa mga tinugyanan ni Faraon nga diha kauban niya sa bilanggoan sa balay sa iyang agalon, nga nagaingon: Unsay hinungdan nga nasubo karon ang inyong mga nawong? |
| Croatian | Upita faraonove dvorane koji su bili s njim u zatvoru u zgradi njegova gospodara: "Zašto ste danas tako potišteni?" |
| Danish | spurgte han dem: "Hvorfor ser I så ulykkelige ud i Dag?" |
| Dutch | Toen vraagde hij de hovelingen van Farao, die bij hem waren in hechtenis van het huis zijns heren, zeggende: Waarom zijn uw aangezichten heden kwalijk gesteld? |
| Finnish | Silloin hän kysyi faraon hoviherroilta, jotka olivat hänen kanssansa vankeudessa hänen isäntänsä talossa: "Miksi te olette tänään niin murheellisen näköiset?" |
| French | Alors il questionna les officiers de Pharaon, qui étaient avec lui dans la prison de son maître, et il leur dit: Pourquoi avez-vous mauvais visage aujourd`hui? |
| German | fragte er sie und sprach: Warum seid ihr heute so traurig? |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Lalu ia bertanya, "Mengapa Saudara-saudara begitu sedih hari ini?" |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Lalu bertanyalah Yusuf akan kedua pegawai Firaun, yang sertanya dalam penjara di rumah tuannya itu, katanya: Mengapa mukamu tampak susah pada hari ini? |
| Maori | Na ka ui ia ki aua kaitohutohu a Parao, i puritia tahitia nei me ia i te whare o tona ariki, ka mea, He aha i whakapoururu ai o korua kanohi inaianei? |
| Norwegian | Da spurte han Faraos hoffmenn, de som satt fengslet med ham hos hans herre: Hvorfor ser I så sorgfulle ut idag? |
| Rumanian | Atunci a kntrebat pe dregqtorii lui Faraon, cari erau cu el kn temniya stqpknului squ, wi le -a zis: ,,Pentruce aveyi o fayq awa de posomorktq azi?`` |
| Swedish | Då frågade han Faraos hovmän, som med honom sutto i förvar i hans herres hus: "Varför sen I så sorgsna ut i dag?" |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "cur": curabilities, curability, curable, curableness, curablenesses, curably, curacao, curacaos, curacies, curacoa, curacoas, curacy, curagh, curaghs, curara, curaras, curare, curares, curari, curarine, curarines, curaris, curarization, curarizations, curarize, curarized, curarizes, curarizing, curassow, curassows, curate, curated, curates, curating, curative, curatively, curatives, curator, curatorial, curators, curatorship, curatorships, curb, curbable, curbed, curber, curbers, curbing, curbings, curbs, curbside. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "cur": concur, incur, nonconcur, occur, recur, reincur, reoccur. (additional references) | |
Words containing "cur": accuracies, accuracy, accurate, accurately, accurateness, accuratenesses, accursed, accursedly, accursedness, accursednesses, accurst, becurse, becursed, becurses, becursing, becurst, bloodcurdling, chiaroscurist, chiaroscurists, chiaroscuro, chiaroscuros, cocurator, cocurators, cocurricular, concurred, concurrence, concurrences, concurrencies, concurrency, concurrent, concurrently, concurrents, concurring, concurs, countercurrent, countercurrently, countercurrents, crosscurrent, crosscurrents, cucurbit, cucurbits, decuries, decurion, decurions, decurrent, decurve, decurved, decurves, decurving, decury, discursive. (additional references) | |
| |
"Cur" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: caur, cburn, Ccir, ccu, ccuf, Cerj, cerr, cfr, cfu, chr, chur, cirr, clur, cmu, cocr, corr, couir, cour, cpr, cruc, cruf, csr, cua, Cubr, cubry, cuc, cuer, cuf, cug, cuh, cuj, cuo, cuq, cura, curc, curf, curi, curn, curo, curp, Curr, curx, cury, cutr, Cuu, cuv, cuw, cux, cuy, cuz, cwr, cxr, cyr, cyrk, czur, iur, Kufr, kur, uc, Ucar, Ucw, ucx, urr. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "cur" (pronounced ker") |
| 2 | k er" | concur, incur, liqueur, occur, recur, reoccur. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words containing the letters "c-r-u" | |
+1 letter: crud, crus, crux, curb, curd, cure, curf, curl, curn, curr, curs, curt, ecru, ruck, uric. | |
+2 letters: arcus, auric, churl, churn, churr, clour, cornu, court, croup, cruck, crude, cruds, cruel, cruet, crumb, crump, cruor, crura, cruse, crush, crust, cuber, curbs, curch, curds, curdy, cured, curer, cures, curet, curfs, curia, curie, curio, curls, curly, curns, currs, curry, curse, curst, curve, curvy, cuter, duroc, ecrus, eruct, incur, lucre, lurch, mucor, mucro, occur, recur, recut, ruche, rucks, runic, scaur, scour, scrub, scrum, scurf, sucre, truce, truck, ulcer, ureic. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Bible Trace | 13. Abbreviations 14. Acronyms 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
