curse
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English curse, kors, cors, curs, from Old English cors, curs (“curse”), of unknown origin.
Inflected forms:
form: curses
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: curses
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: cursing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: cursed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: cursed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: curst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
participle
past
form: curst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
Senses:
gloss: A supernatural detriment or hindrance; a bane.
pos: noun
examples: If ye will not heare, and if yee will not lay it to heart, to giue glory vnto my name, saith the Lord of hostes; I will euen send a curse vpon you, and will curse your blessings: yea, I haue cursed them already, because yee doe not lay it to heart.
Oh Portius, is there not some choſen Curſe,
Some hidden Thunder in the Stores of Heav’n,
Red with uncommon Wrath, to blaſt the Man
Who owes his Greatneſs to his Country’s Ruin?
“The farm's had a lot of bad luck, you see. Dad thinks there is a curse on the place.” “Most like. Most like,” said Catweazle, gobbling the banana.
gloss: A prayer or imprecation that harm may befall someone.
pos: noun
gloss: The cause of great harm, evil, or misfortune; that which brings evil or severe affliction; torment.
pos: noun
examples: The common curſe of mankinde, Folly and Ignorance[…]
gloss: A vulgar epithet.
pos: noun
examples: Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.
gloss: A woman's menses.
pos: noun
tags: dated
derogatory
slang
usually
with-definite-article
gloss: To place a curse upon (a person or object).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: And Balaam said unto God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying,
Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face of the earth: come now, curse me them; peradventure I shall be able to overcome them, and drive them out.
And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed.
Captain Edward Carlisle[…]felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze,[…]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
gloss: To call upon divine or supernatural power to send injury upon; to imprecate evil upon; to execrate.
pos: verb
examples: Thou ſhalt not[…]curſe the ruler of thy people.
gloss: To speak or shout a vulgar curse or epithet.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To use offensive or morally inappropriate language.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Then beganne hee to curſe and to ſweare[…]
[…]his Spirits heare me, / And yet I needes muſt curſe.
gloss: To bring great evil upon; to be the cause of serious harm or unhappiness to; to furnish with that which will be a cause of deep trouble; to afflict or injure grievously; to harass or torment.
pos: verb
examples: On Impious Realms, and barb’rous Kings, impoſe / Thy Plagues, and curſe 'em with ſuch Sons as thoſe.
Derived words: a blessing and a curse
Assad curse
Assad must go curse
blurse
Celtic curse
commentator's curse
Corsican curse
countercurse
curseful
cursefully
Curselax
curseless
curselike
curse of Cain
curse of dimensionality
curse of Scotland
curse of the ninth
curse tablet
curse word
curseworthy
encurse
generational curse
not worth a curse
not worth a tinker's curse
Ondine's curse
Paterson's curse
Patterson's curse
precurse
resource curse
tinker's curse
Undine's curse
winner's curse
Zelenskyy curse
accurse
becurse
better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness
cursable
cursee
curse it
curse like a pagan
curse like a sailor
curse like a trooper
curse out
curser
forcurse
outcurse
uncurse
Translations: