CURSE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Curse

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/kərs/ Listen

noun

Curse n.

1.

An invocation of, or prayer for, harm or injury; malediction. "Lady, you know no rules of charity, Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses."

2.

Evil pronounced or invoked upon another, solemnly, or in passion; subjection to, or sentence of, divine condemnation. " The priest shall write these curses in a book." "Curses, like chickens, come home to roost."

3.

The cause of great harm, evil, or misfortune; that which brings evil or severe affliction; torment. "The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance." "All that I eat, or drink, or shall beget, Is propagated curse."

The curse of Scotland (Card Playing), the nine of diamonds.

Not worth a curse. See under Cress.

Synonyms: Malediction; imprecation; execration. See Malediction.

verb

Curse v. t. (past & past part. cursed or curst; pres. part. cursing)

1.

To call upon divine or supernatural power to send injury upon; to imprecate evil upon; to execrate. "Thou shalt not... curse the ruler of thy people." "Ere sunset I'll make thee curse the deed."

2.

To bring great evil upon; to be the cause of serious harm or unhappiness to; to furnish with that which will be a cause of deep trouble; to afflict or injure grievously; to harass or torment. "On impious realms and barbarous kings impose Thy plagues, and curse 'em with such sons as those."

To curse by bell, book, and candle. See under Bell.

Curse v. i. To utter imprecations or curses; to affirm or deny with imprecations; to swear. "Then began he to curse and to swear." "His spirits hear me, And yet I need must curse."

See images of 'Curse'

Etymology of 'Curse'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Curse" Quotes from Famous Books

... swelling with high hope. He would live to see all his ambitions realised in Roderick. He sat up very late that night and when he went to bed and remembered how the Lad had promised to help rid Peter of the drink curse, he could not sleep until he had sung the long-meter doxology. He sang it very softly, for Kirsty was asleep and it might be hard to explain to her if she were disturbed; nevertheless he sang it with ...

— The End of the Rainbow • Marian Keith

... heavens for confirmation of what he had said: and with that there came words and fire out of the mountain under which poor Christian stood, that made the hair of his flesh stand up. The words were thus pronounced: 'As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law ...

— The Pilgrim's Progress - From this world to that which is to come. • John Bunyan

... living picture, and what a warning to man! One "fault" may be a mortal one to him, for, like the Biblical curse, it transmits itself to generations, ...

— Spontaneous Activity in Education • Maria Montessori

... the Yankee officer who could curse a prisoner so gallantly ordered two soldiers to take charge and carry me to their lines, no doubt believing that the Confederates would succeed in recapturing the "Crater." We had to cross a plain five hundred and ten feet ...

— History of Kershaw's Brigade • D. Augustus Dickert

... ourselves fortunate in having been able to return." "How!" said the princess, "do you not bring me the Water which dances, the Apple which sings, and the Bird of Truth?" "Alas! my poor sister, a young knight who was a stranger to us carried them all away—curse the rascal." The old king who had no children (or rather, who believed he had none) loved the two brothers and the sister very much and was highly delighted to see them back again. He caused a grand feast to be prepared, to which he invited princes, dukes, marquises, barons, and ...

— Supplemental Nights, Volume 3 • Richard F. Burton

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