▪ I. curse, n.
(kɜːs)
Forms: 1–4 curs, 4–5 kors, 4–6 curss(e, 5 curce, 5– curse.
[Late OE. curs, of unknown origin; no word of similar form and sense is known in Teutonic, Romanic, or Celtic. (Of connexion with cross, which has been suggested, there is no trace.)
In its various uses the opposite of blessing.]
1. a. An utterance consigning, or supposed or intended to consign, (a person or thing) to spiritual and temporal evil, the vengeance of the deity, the blasting of malignant fate, etc. It may be uttered by the deity, or by persons supposed to speak in his name, or to be listened to by him.
| 10.. Charter of Leofric in Cod. Dipl. IV. 72 Hæbbe he her on ðisse life Goddes curs. [Cf. Earle Land Charters & Sax. Doc. 252, 253, etc.] a 1050 Liber Scintill. lvi. (1889) 174 Bletsung fæder fæstnað hus bearna, curs soðlice moder awyrtwalað trymmincge. c 1125 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS). an. 656 Leidon þa Godes curs and ealre halᵹane curs and al Cristene folces. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 287/314 He ȝaf alle godes curs and his. a 1300 Vox & Wolf 201 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 64 Ich habbe widewene kors Therefore ich fare the wors. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. xiv. (1495) 199 The faders curse greuyth the chyldren. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 240 Thus haue you breath'd your Curse against your self. 1615 J. Stephens Satyr. Ess. (ed. 2) 376 Her prayers and Amen, be a charm and a curse. 1780 Cowper Table Talk 467 God's curse can cast away ten thousand sail! 1798 Coleridge Anc. Mariner iv. ix, An orphan's curse would drag to Hell A spirit from on high. 1829 Hood Eugene Aram xii, He told how murderers walk'd the earth Beneath the curse of Cain. |
b. spec. A formal ecclesiastical censure or anathema; a sentence of excommunication.
| a 1050 in Thorpe Anc. Laws II. 318 Bisceopum ᵹebyreð þæt hi æfre on ænine man curs ne settan, butan hy nyde scylan. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 655 Have noon Awe In swich caas of the Ercedekenes curs. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 111 Curce, excommunicatio, anathema. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 936/1 At the suit of the ladie Katharine Dowager, a cursse was sent from the pope, which curssed both the king and the realme. a 1763 Shenstone Ess. 176 If any one's curse can effect damnation, it is not that of the pope, but that of the poor. 1849 Whittier Voices of Freedom, Charter-breakers iii, The waiting crowd..Stood to hear the priest rehearse, In God's name, the Church's curse. |
2. a. Without implication of the effect: The uttering of a malediction with invocation or adjuration of the deity; a profane oath, an imprecation.
| a 1050 Liber Scintill. v. (1889) 24 Na aᵹyldende yfel for yfele oþþe curs for curse [maledictum pro maledicto], ac þer toᵹeanes bletsiᵹende. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 163 Ðe defles sed is..hoker and scorn..curs and leasinges. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. i. i. 196, I giue him curses, yet he giues me loue. 1732 Pope Ep. Bathurst 273 Despairing quacks with curses fled the place. 1835 Whittier Hunters of Men iv, The curse of the sinner and prayer of the saint. 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. III. 96 Some curses followed. |
b. Used in pl. as an imprecation, expressing irritation or frustration; esp. (histrionically or as a stage-aside) curses, foiled again!
| 1885 Muskerry & Jourdain Khartoum! viii. 49 Ha! they're here. Ah, curses! 1926 ‘S. Steele’ (title) Curses, what a night! A nonsensical satire on the mellerdrammer. 1932 J. Corbett Vampire of Skies ii. 29 He happened to be free at the moment — the Yard knew that (curses!) — and his holidays were due in a fortnight. 1967 Gernhard & Holler Snoopy versus Red Baron (song) 4 He flew into the sky to seek revenge, but the Baron shot him down. Curses, foiled again! 1973 S. Allen Curses! 119 If you haven't learned anything from this book then, ‘Curses! May you be foiled again and again and again!’ c 1977 V. R. Cheatham Skits & Spoofs for Young Actors p. v, The Tortoise and the Hare Hit the Road... Meet Dr. Frankenstein... Curses! Foiled Again! 1986 R. Claiborne Saying what You Mean 197 ‘Curses!’ the baffled villain snarled. |
¶ In such phrases as not worth a curse, not to care a curse, the expression possibly comes down from the ME. not worth a kerse, kers, cres: see cress 2.
But historical connexion between the two is not evidenced, there being an interval of more than 300 years between the examples of the ME. and the modern phrase; and damn (cf. care v. 4 a) occurs as early as curse, so that the coincidence may be merely accidental.
| 1763 T. Jefferson Let. Writings 1892 I. 346, I do not conceive that any thing can happen..which you would give a curse to know. 1813 Moore Post-bag ii. 93 For, as to wives, a Grand Signor Need never care one curse about them! 1826 Blackw. Mag. XIX. 357/1 The Chapter on Naval Inventions is not worth a curse. 1827 Scott Jrnl. (1890) II. 43 He will not care a curse for what outward show he has lost. |
3. a. An object of cursing or execration; an accursed thing or person.
| 1382 Wyclif Gal. iii. 13 Crist..maad for vs curs, that is, sacrifice for curs. 1582 N. T. (Rhem.) Gal. iii. 13 Christ..being made a curse for vs. 1611 Bible Jer. xxvi. 6, I..wil make this city a curse to all the nations. 1654 tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 168 Bajazet..who is the curse and execration of all the world. 1838 Lytton Leila i. vi, Thy name is a curse in Israel. |
b. = cuss n. 2.
| 1790 [see rantipole n. 1]. 1854 B. Young in Jrnl. Discourses I. 83 We have known Gladden Bishop for more than twenty years, and know him to be a poor, dirty curse. Ibid. 169 Why don't you do it, you poor miserable curses? |
c. An angler's name for a very small gnat or midge.
| 1889 F. M. Halford Dry-fly Fishing vi. 116 ‘Curses’, or black midges or gnats. 1899 19th Cent. Jan. 122 The monstrously minute ‘curse’. |
4. a. The evil inflicted by divine (or supernatural) power in response to an imprecation, or in the way of retributive punishment.
| 1382 Wyclif Dan. ix. 11 And al Yrael braken the lawe..and cursse droppide on vs. 1587 Golding De Mornay Ep. Ded. 3 He turned the reproch of his crosse into glorie, and the cursse therof into a blessing. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. ii. 18 ‘Curse on that Cross,’ (quoth then the Sarazin). 1713 Addison Cato i. ii, Curse on the stripling! how he apes his sire. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. v. 28 This is God's curse on slavery! a bitter, a bitter, most accursed thing! |
b. A great evil (regarded more or less vaguely as inflicted or resting upon a person, community, etc.); a thing which blights or blasts; a blasting affliction, a bane.
| 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. v. iv. 43 Oh 'tis the curse in Loue..When women cannot loue, where they're belou'd. 1595 ― John iv. ii. 208 It is the curse of Kings, to be attended By slaues, that take their humors for a warrant. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. x. §1 (1681) 210 The only natural Remedies against this sometimes heavy Curse [mildew]. 1789 W. Buchan Dom. Med. (ed. 11) 81 Many people look upon the necessity man is under of earning his bread by labour, as a curse. 1846 Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 141 The curse of our generation is that so few of us deeply believe anything. 1870 Pall Mall Budget 29 Oct. 19/1 Very ill with that curse of his trade the painter's colic. |
c. curse of Scotland: a name given to the nine of diamonds in a pack of cards.
Origin of the name doubtful. A not unlikely suggestion is that the card was so called from resembling the armorial bearings of Dalrymple, Lord Stair, nine lozenges on a saltire, the number and shape of the spots being identical, and their arrangement sufficiently similar. The first Earl of Stair was the object of much execration, especially from the adherents of the Stuarts, for his share in sanctioning the Massacre of Glencoe in 1692, and subsequently for the influential part played by him in bringing about the Union with England in 1707. An opponent says he was ‘at the bottom of the Union’, and ‘so he may be styled the Judas of the Country’.
| 1715–47 J. Houston Mem. 92 [Lord Justice-Clerk Ormistone] became universally hated in Scotland, where they called him the Curse of Scotland; and when the ladies were at cards playing the Nine of Diamonds (commonly called the Curse of Scotland), they called it the Justice Clerk. 1791 Gentl. Mag. 141 The nine of diamonds [is called] the Curse of Scotland, because every ninth monarch of that nation was a bad King to his subjects. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 75 There is the curse of Scotland, plague take that nine of diamonds. 1893 Daily News 21 Feb. 4/8 A problem which has long puzzled antiquaries. Why is the Nine of Diamonds called the Curse of Scotland? |
d. the curse: menstruation. colloq.
| 1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel 147 She was afraid her period was coming on. She'd only had the curse a few times yet. 1933 ‘E. A. Robertson’ Ordinary Families vi. 115 Ill luck..had added a premature last straw to my load of misery: I had the curse. 1960 Woman's Own 19 Mar. 15/1, I always think it such a pity when girls..call it ‘the curse’. 1969 G. Greene Travels with my Aunt xii. 120, I forgot the damn pill and I haven't had the curse for six weeks. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as curse-blasted, curse-loving, curse-scarred, curse-worthy adjs.; curse-roll, a list of anathemas; curse-mete, app. formed after the erroneous help-meet for help meet or the modern help-mate; curse-word = cuss-word (cuss n. 3).
| 1836 G. S. Faber Answ. Husenbeth 34 After the manner of his curse-loving Church. 1844 Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile, I..Who yesterday was helpmate and delight Unto mine Adam, am to-day the grief And curse-mete for him. 1855 Bailey Mystic 127 With ominous and curseworthy glory. 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 180, I shall have a list longer than the curse-roll of the Pope. 1897 R. M. Stuart Simpkinsville vii. 225 The popular after-dinner ‘curse word story’ of the cloth would never have been tolerated in Simpkinsville. |
▪ II. curse, v.
(kɜːs)
Forms: 1 cursian, 2–3 cursen, (3–4 kurse, 4 curce), 4–5 cors, (5 cruss), 5–6 cursse, 4– curse.
[Goes with curse n., from which, in its OE. form curs, the vb. cursian was probably immediately derived.
Generally the opposite of to bless in its various uses.]
1. trans. To utter against (persons or things) words which consign, or are intended or supposed to consign, them to evil spiritual or temporal, as the wrath of God or the malignity of fate; to damn. a. Said of the deity or supernatural power.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 11 Cursed be þe man þe leueð upen hwate. Ibid. 181 Þo godes muð cursede eorðe. 1426 Audelay Poems 2 Murthyr, theft, and avoutre..bene cursyd in heven on hye. 1611 Bible Numb. xxiii. 8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? 1761 Sterne Tr. Shandy III. xi, May the Father who created man, curse him..May St. Michael, the advocate of holy souls, curse him. 1821 Byron Cain i. i. 522 O Cain! This spirit [Lucifer] curseth us. |
b. Said of persons claiming to speak in the divine name, esp. officers of the church: To pronounce a formal curse against, to anathematize, excommunicate, consign to perdition.
| a 1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1137 §4 Þe biscopes & lered men heom cursede æure. Ibid. an. 1140, Þe biscop of Wincestre..cursede alle þe men. a 1300 Cursor M. 17109 (Gött.) Curced in kirc þan sal þai be wid candil, boke, and bell. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 309 [The pope Anastasius] cursede þe emperour. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) ix. 36 Machomete cursez all þase þat drinkez wyne. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 111 Cursyn', excommunico, anathematizo, cateziso. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 119 This yere the men of Caithnes in Scotland burned their bishop, because he curssed them for not paiyng of their Tithes. 1611 Bible Numb. xxii. 6 Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse mee this people, for they are too mightie for mee. 1782 Priestley Corrupt. Chr. I. i. 7 The Jews..cursed them in a solemn manner three times. 1849 Whittier Voices of Freedom, Curse of Charter-breakers ix, Since that stoled and mitred band Cursed the tyrants of their land. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 79 Those who alienate either house or lot shall be cursed by priests. |
2. a. Hence (without implication of the effect): To imprecate or invoke divine vengeance or evil fate upon; to denounce with adjuration of the divine name; to pour maledictions upon; to swear at. Also const. for.
| c 1200 Ormin 5050 Ȝiff þat tu currsesst aniȝ mann & hatesst himm wiþþ herrte. c 1300 St. Brandan 550 Ich mai cursi the tyme that ich ibore was. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1583 He corsed his clerkes & calde hem chorles. c 1475 Partenay 2851 Full often crussing the hour and the day That thes wordes scapid or mouthed he. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Jan. 49 A thousand sithes I curse that carefull hower. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 52 The citizens..cursing the tyrant to the devill. 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. v. (1841) I. 109, I heard my brother damn the coachman, and curse the maids. 1859 Tennyson Guinevere 529, I did not come to curse thee, Guinevere. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 163 Voltaire..never knew more German than was needed to curse a postilion. 1922 H. Walpole Cathedral ii. iv. 229 He cursed Foster for a meddling, cantankerous fanatic. |
† b. with obj. clause. Obs. rare.
| c 1500 Maid Emlyn in Anc. Poet. Tracts 27 He cursed that he came thyder. 1638 Ford Fancies iii. iii, The time will come..When he..Will curse he train'd me hither. |
c. In imprecations (with no subject expressed): = damn, confound.
| 1761 Sterne Tr. Shandy III. x, Curse the fellow..I am undone for this bout. 1877 H. Smart Play or Pay iv. (1878) 71 ‘Curse the whist!’ he muttered; ‘what a fool I was to meddle with it!’ 1881 Scribn. Mag. XXI. 269/2 ‘Curse it! why do you treat me so?’ |
3. To speak impiously against, to rail profanely at (the deity, fate, destiny, etc.); to blaspheme.
| c 1050 Spelman's Psalms xxxvi[i]. 22 (C. MS.) Forðam þe bletsiende him yrfweardiað eorðan, yfelcweþende [C. cursiynde] soðlice hine forweorðað. 1388 Wyclif Job ii. 9 His wijf seide to hym..Curse thou God, and die. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 37 He..cursed heven; and spake reprochful shame Of highest God. 1611 Bible Isa. viii. 21 They shall fret themselues, and curse their King, and their God. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 774 The Clown, who, cursing Providence, repines. 1732 Pope Ep. Bathurst 402 And sad Sir Balaam curses God and dies. |
4. absol. or intr. To utter curses; to swear profanely in anger or irritation.
| c 1230 Ancr. R. 198 Þe þet swereð greate oðes, oðer bitter⁓liche kurseð. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1977 He..gan to kurse fast; ‘Where dwelle ȝe, a deuel wai, ȝe damiseles, so long?’ c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 1169 It es mare manhede..to..beseke god þair bote to bene, Þan outhir for to curse or scorne. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. liii. [lii.] 190 When they saw theyr goodes taken and spente away..they cursed bytwene theyr tethe, sayenge, go into Englande or to the deuyll. 1535 Coverdale Matt. xxvi. 74 Then beganne he to curse and to sweare. 1667 Dryden Wild Gallant iv. i, I drink not, I curse not, I cheat not; they are unnecessary vices. 1819 Shelley Cenci iii. i. 314 He..came to upbraid and curse, Mocking our poverty. 1892 D. C. Murray Bob Martin's Lit. Girl I. 13 Coming into collision with some unseen piece of furniture [he] cursed quietly to himself. |
5. trans. To afflict with such evils or calamities as are the consequences or indications of divine wrath or the malignancy of fate; to blast. to be cursed with: to be afflicted with by divine decree, by destiny, or by one's evil fate.
| 1382 Wyclif Deut. xxviii. 16, 17 Cursid thow shalt be in citee, cursed in feeld; cursid thy bern, and cursid thi relikis. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 945 The Destinies will curse thee for this stroke. 1611 Bible Gen. xii. 3, I will blesse them that blesse thee, and curse him, that curseth thee. 1727–38 Gay Fables i. viii. 13 With this plague she's rightly curst. 1781 Cowper Truth 182 To..curse the desert with a tenfold dearth. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. iv. xiv. Sure some fell fiend has cursed our line, That coward should e'er be son of mine! 1880 J. Cook Boston Lectures, Heredity x, He was temporarily a drunkard, and God cursed him, through that law of initial heredity. Mod. To be cursed with a bad temper, a drunken wife, etc. |