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Curb   /kərb/   Listen
verb
Curb  v. t.  (past & past part. curbed; pres. part. curbing)  
1.
To bend or curve. (Obs.) "Crooked and curbed lines."
2.
To guide and manage, or restrain, as with a curb; to bend to one's will; to subject; to subdue; to restrain; to confine; to keep in check. "Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed." "Where pinching want must curb thy warm desires."
3.
To furnish with a curb, as a well; also, to restrain by a curb, as a bank of earth.


Curb  v. i.  To bend; to crouch; to cringe. (Obs.) "Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg, Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good."


noun
Curb  n.  
1.
That which curbs, restrains, or subdues; a check or hindrance; esp., a chain or strap attached to the upper part of the branches of a bit, and capable of being drawn tightly against the lower jaw of the horse. "He that before ran in the pastures wild Felt the stiff curb control his angry jaws." "By these men, religion,that should be The curb, is made the spur of tyranny."
2.
(Arch.) An assemblage of three or more pieces of timber, or a metal member, forming a frame around an opening, and serving to maintain the integrity of that opening; also, a ring of stone serving a similar purpose, as at the eye of a dome.
3.
A frame or wall round the mouth of a well; also, a frame within a well to prevent the earth caving in.
4.
A curbstone.
5.
(Far.) A swelling on the back part of the hind leg of a horse, just behind the lowest part of the hock joint, generally causing lameness.
Curb bit, a stiff bit having branches by which a leverage is obtained upon the jaws of horse.
Curb pins (Horology), the pins on the regulator which restrain the hairspring.
Curb plate (Arch.), a plate serving the purpose of a curb.
Deck curb. See under Deck.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Curb" Quotes from Famous Books



... would let me try his paces some morning, Pulvertoft,' struck in a Colonel Cockshott, who was riding with them, and whom I knew slightly: 'I've a notion he would go better on the curb.' ...
— The Talking Horse - And Other Tales • F. Anstey
... rebellion against the Spaniards. The latter are not strong enough to wage war with him, and therefore overlook his insolence; this encourages him to begin anew his piratical raids against other islands. At this, several attempts are made to curb them, most proving ineffectual—although in January-February, 1658, Esteybar with a squadron of armed vessels, destroys several Mindanao villages. Finally (in 1662) the Manila authorities decide to abandon their ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 41 of 55, 1691-1700 • Various
... that arose no one could see just what happened, but that what was done was done deliberately no one doubted. The earl, at once checking and spurring his foaming charger, drove the iron-shod war-horse directly over Myles's prostrate body. Then, checking him fiercely with the curb, reined him back, the hoofs clashing and crashing, over the figure beneath. So he had ridden over the father at York, and so he rode ...
— Men of Iron • Ernie Howard Pyle
... stood at the curb and he threw open the door. "Come on, get in! Something's happening. Miss Richards, set it for this ...
— Cerebrum • Albert Teichner
... the morning face to face; Her own was freshest, though a feverish flush Had dyed it with the headlong blood, whose race From heart to cheek is curb'd into a blush, Like to a torrent which a mountain's base, That overpowers some Alpine river's rush, Checks to a lake, whose waves in circles spread; Or the Red Sea—but ...
— Don Juan • Lord Byron


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