▪ I. curn, n. north. and Sc.
[? Related to curn v.]
† 1. pl. Grain, corn-crops. Obs.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 7158 (Trin.) To her tailes fire he bond..Þourȝe þe felde he made hem fle And so her curnes dud he brenne. |
2. Sc. A grain.
| 1474 Act. Audit. 35 (Jam.) Of ilk chalder the thrid kurne. c 1540 Lyndesay Kitteis Conf. 90 Curnis of meil, and luffillis of Malt. 1759 Fountainhall Decis. Lords of Council I. 334 (Jam.) The seed, which is excepted from the multure; this is the 4th pickle or curne. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet ch. xiii, If there be a drap mair lemon or a curn less sugar than just suits you. 1881 ‘J. Strathesk’ Bits fr. Blink Bonny (1882) 137, I boil'd their meal and put a curn o' spice in't. |
b. transf. A small number or quantity; a few.
| 1785 Jrnl. from Lond. to Portsm. 8 (Jam.), I saw a curn of camla-like fellows wi' them. 1787 W. Taylor Scots Poems 72 (Jam.), I frae the neuk fresh coals an' sticks, An' i' the chimly cast a curn. 1820 St. Kathleen IV. 143 (Jam.), Only a curn bubbles brak on the tap. 1847 H. Miller Geol. Bass Rock 109 Yonder's a curn o' rough hills. 1891 A. Matthews Poems & Songs 54 Among a curn claikin' wives. |
▪ II. curn, v.
Early form of kern, to form grains, to granulate.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 490 Tho grene corn in somer ssolde curne. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xiii. 180 Shal neuer spir springen vp ne spik on strawe curne [v.r. kerne, kurne]. |