Hypertext Webster Gateway: "curious"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Curious \Cu"ri*ous\ (k?"r?-?s), 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.]

Little curious in her clothes. --Fuller.

How shall we, If he be curious, work upon his faith?
--Beau. & Fl.

2. Exhibiting care or nicety; artfully constructed;
elaborate; wrought with elegance or skill.

To devise curious works. --Ex. xxxv. 32

His body couched in a curious bed. --Shak.

3. Careful or anxious to learn; eager for knowledge; given to
research or inquiry; habitually inquisitive; prying; --
sometimes with after or of.

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.

4. Exciting attention or inquiry; awakening surprise;
inviting and rewarding inquisitiveness; not simple or
plain; strange; rare. ``Acurious tale'' --Shak.

A multitude of curious analogies. --Macaulay.

Many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore.
--E. A. Poe.

Abstruse investigations in recondite branches of
learning or sciense often bring to light curious
results. --C. J. Smith.

{Curious arts}, magic. [Obs.]

Many . . . which used curious arts brought their
books together, and burned them. --Acts xix.
19.

Syn: Inquisitive; prying. See {Inquisitive}.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

curious
adj 1: beyond or deviating from the usual or expected; "a curious
hybrid accent"; "her speech has a funny twang"; "they
have some funny ideas about war"; "had an odd name";
"the peculiar aromatic odor of cloves"; "something
definitely queer about this town"; "what a rum
fellow"; "singular behavior" [syn: {funny}, {odd}, {peculiar},
{queer}, {rum}, {rummy}, {singular}]
2: eager to investigate and learn or learn more (sometimes
about others' concerns); "a curious child is a teacher's
delight"; "a trap door that made me curious"; "curious
investigators"; "traffic was slowed by curious
rubberneckers"; "curious about the neighbor's doings"
[ant: {incurious}]
3: having curiosity aroused; eagerly interested in learning
more; "a trap door that made me curious"


Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup

Enter word here:
Exact Approx


dict.stokkie.net
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents; see the Webster Gateway FAQ, and also the Back-end/database links and credits.