▪ I. curdle, v.
(ˈkɜːd(ə)l)
Also 6–7 crudle, 7–8 (9 dial.) cruddle.
[Frequentative of curd v.]
1. trans. To form (milk) into curd; to turn (any liquid) into a soft solid substance like curd; to coagulate, clot, congeal.
| 1590–6 [see curdled 1, 1 c.]. 1601 Holland Pliny xxiii. vii, It wil cruddle milk as wel as rennet. 1611 Bible Job x. 10 Hast thou not powred me out as milke, and cruddled me like cheese? 1742 Lond. & Country Brew. i. (ed. 4) 40 The Wort also will be curdled, and broke into small Particles. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts I. 767 All acids curdle milk. |
b. to curdle the blood: usually fig. said of the effect of cold, horror, etc. upon a person.
| 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. ii. Wks. 1856 I. 26 O how impatience..cruddles thick my blood, with boiling rage! a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xvi. (1704) III. 559 Being now awaken'd by this Alarm..and his flegm a little curdled, he begun to think himself in danger. 1760 C. Johnston Chrysal (1822) I. 14 An holy horror curdled all my blood. 1891 Baring-Gould In Troub. Land v. 63 The glacial bise sweeps over the face of the desert, curdling the blood. |
2. transf. and fig.
| 1627–47 Feltham Resolves (ed. 7) 154 We are curdled to the fashion of a life by time and set successions. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. I. vi. 210 The surface of the water is fretted and curdled into the finest waves by the undulations of the air. 1816 Byron Dream i, A thought, A slumbering thought..curdles a long life into one hour. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 203 So beauty curdles envy's look on thee. |
3. intr. To become or form curd; to coagulate.
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 348 The milk..will not cruddle. 1653 H. More Conject. Cabbal. (1713) 190 How this Primordial Water..should ever coagulate or cruddle into that consistency. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 56 The milk of the goat is..not so apt to curdle upon the stomach as that of the cow. 1853 A. Soyer Pantroph. 90 Mint prevented milk from curdling. |
b. Of the blood. (Now usually fig.)
| 1611 Beaum. & Fl. King & no King i. i, See now my blood cruddles at this! 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat., Manual i. i. 302 Extravenated Blood..curdles and putrefies. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 514 The blood thrills and curdles at the thought. a 1845 Barham Ingol. Leg. (1877) 183 It makes the blood curdle with fear. |
c. transf. and fig.
| 1818 Byron Mazeppa xviii, An icy sickness curdling o'er My heart. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 22 The adjacent atmosphere..curdled up into visible fog. |
▪ II. curdle, n. rare.
(ˈkɜːd(ə)l)
[f. prec. vb.]
The act or product of curdling; † a curd (obs.).
| a 1593 H. Smith Serm. (1622) 444 There is a kind of downe or curdle upon Wisedom. 1611 Cotgr., Mattes, curds, or curdles. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 30 Tracing the..winding fountains to their infant bed, Marking each curdle boil and boil away. 1933 D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise iv. 65 What disgusting stuff cauliflower could be—a curdle of cabbage! |