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Curdle   Listen
Curdle

verb
(past & past part. curdled; pres. part. curdling)  (Sometimes written crudle and cruddle)
1.
Turn into curds.  Synonyms: clabber, clot.
2.
Go bad or sour.
3.
Turn from a liquid to a solid mass.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Curdle" Quotes from Famous Books



... then loudly. He went on rapping, and knew the fear that assails the assaulter of impregnable, unyielding silence, the panic of him who calls aloud in an empty house and is answered only by the tiny sounds of creaking, scuffling, and whispering that cause the skin to creep, the blood to curdle, the marrow to freeze, the heart to stop, and the spirit to be poured out like water. Strange and horrid symptoms! Curdled blood, frozen marrow, unbeating heart ... who first discovered that this ...
— Mystery at Geneva - An Improbable Tale of Singular Happenings • Rose Macaulay

... could not be convinced. From her earliest childhood she had never had but one idea of America, and that was as a great wilderness filled with Indians and wild beasts. Of the former, she had heard tales that made her blood curdle in her veins. It was in vain, therefore, for Thomas Ward to argue with his wife about going to America. She was not to be convinced that a waste, howling wilderness was at all comparable with happy old England, even if ...
— Married Life; Its Shadows and Sunshine • T. S. Arthur

... curse of crushed affections light Back on thy bosom with reflected blight, And make thee in thy leprosy of mind As loathsome to thyself as to mankind! Till all thy self-thoughts curdle into hate, Black—as thy will for others would create; Till thy hard heart be calcined into dust, And thy soul welter in its hideous crust. O, may thy grave be sleepless as the bed, The widowed couch of fire, that thou hast spread Then when thou fain wouldst weary Heaven with prayer, Look on ...
— Lady Byron Vindicated • Harriet Beecher Stowe

... belief that my death was near, made me resolve to make my way in despite of him. I made the sign of the cross, drew my sword, and uttered, "In the name of God, Evil Spirit, give place!" "Vich Ian Vohr," it said, in a voice that made my very blood curdle, "beware of to-morrow!" It seemed at that moment not half a yard from my sword's point; but the words were no sooner spoken than it was gone, and nothing appeared further to obstruct my passage. I got home, and threw myself on my bed, where I spent a few hours heavily ...
— Waverley • Sir Walter Scott

... down, one after the other. There was "The Life of Rev. Thomas Miltimore,"—I put that back on the shelf. There was "Leading Men of Rockingham County,"—I put that back. Then there was a book of hymns, and Foxe's "Book of Martyrs." I was about to take the latter to the kitchen with me, and curdle my blood again with its ghastly pictures, when I found another book under an old, yellow newspaper. It was "The Rifle Rangers; or Adventures in Southern Mexico by Captain Mayne Reid." The frontispiece, which was protected by a torn and stained leaf of tissue paper, showed a soldier in a tropical ...
— The Voyage of the Hoppergrass • Edmund Lester Pearson

... before Colonel Sterett an' the Red Dog editor takes to cirklin' for trouble, an' the frightful names they applies to each other in their respectif journals, an' the accoosations an' them epithets they hurls, would shore curdle the ...
— Wolfville Days • Alfred Henry Lewis

... his judges did not turn in the direction he indicated. Fabian rose slowly; his look caused the blood to curdle in the veins of ...
— Wood Rangers - The Trappers of Sonora • Mayne Reid

... about it. We just heard enough when you first arrived to curdle our blood. How in the world, Burt, did you allow yourself to get caught ...
— Nature's Serial Story • E. P. Roe

... hath had the vision—one can tell it but to look at her: and for the three fatal shrieks—the shrieks to curdle one's blood—Josefa told of them but now. Some one hath heard them; but they hush it in the court for ...
— The Royal Pawn of Venice - A Romance of Cyprus • Mrs. Lawrence Turnbull

... from my hands, and the remainder of the population—I mean the porter and the constable—who were with him at the time read it over his shoulder. They all three looked hard at me, and the station-master said "Tenpence!" in a tone which made my blood curdle. I was doomed to be suspected wherever I went! What did ...
— Boycotted - And Other Stories • Talbot Baines Reed

... canton, Herr Baron, and I pray your powerful succor, should those untamed spirits on the forecastle come to discover the truth. My blood hath been made to curdle to-day whilst listening to their heartless threats and terrible maledictions. Without this fear, I should have kept my secret,—for God knows I am not proud ...
— The Headsman - The Abbaye des Vignerons • James Fenimore Cooper

... dishes, with bull-frogs in them, I dare say, and eat them, too, on the European plan. The European plan! as if the fine old fashion set by the Pilgrim Fathers was not good enough for their descendants! It's enough to curdle the blood in one's veins to see what our country is coming to, with a plan of broken-down old Europe in the very basement of our Capitol. Do our members of Congress remember the time when their fathers ate samp and milk on a table set against ...
— Phemie Frost's Experiences • Ann S. Stephens

... of any animal. The natural history of man himself is still being gradually written. Men are knowing enough after their fashion. Every countryman and dairymaid knows that the coats of the fourth stomach of the calf will curdle milk, and what particular mushroom is a safe and nutritious diet. You cannot go into any field or wood, but it will seem as if every stone had been turned, and the bark on every tree ripped up. But, after all, it is much easier to discover than to see ...
— Excursions • Henry D. Thoreau

... all them," continued Prudence, "who find anything in me to take an interest in. O, Philip, I tremble lest you should do or say something again that these dreadful solemn folk, who look sour enough to curdle milk, and hate you because you laugh, may get hold of to do you an injury. O, Philip, ...
— The Knight of the Golden Melice - A Historical Romance • John Turvill Adams

... H. "Indeed, I have only told you the least objectionable part. I assure you, he related things that would make a fellow's blood to curdle into vinegar, and perspire from every pore of the body. I credit everything he told me, for his word is as much to be depended upon as ...
— The Black-Sealed Letter - Or, The Misfortunes of a Canadian Cockney. • Andrew Learmont Spedon

... movement would rebel, And curdle to its source, as blood to the heart When the cold fires of indignation start From their obscure lair in the body.—Well, If for us two to part were just to part All years would have one ...
— Miscellany of Poetry - 1919 • Various

... fulfilled. Oh, it was not for nothing that we were young together! I read thy horoscope and that arrogant brawler thy brother's long ago, and when I interpret it to thee, if the blood does not curdle in thy ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... speech thrilled Helen with its assurance of hope, and made her blood curdle at the implied peril ...
— The Man of the Forest • Zane Grey

... degrees, stir it well, and pour it into the pot, continuing to stir until it has boiled two or three minutes to take off the raw taste of the eggs. If the cream be not perfectly sweet, and the eggs quite new, the thickening will curdle in the soup. For a change you may put a dozen ripe tomatos in, first taking off their skins, by letting them stand a few minutes in hot water, when they may be easily peeled. When made in this way you must thicken it with the flour ...
— The Virginia Housewife • Mary Randolph

... diarrhoea of infants, is generally owing to too great acidity in their bowels. Milk is found curdled in the stomachs of all animals, old as well as young, and even of carnivorous ones, as of hawks. (Spallanzani.) And it is the gastric juice of the calf, which is employed to curdle milk in the process of making cheese. Milk is the natural food for children, and must curdle in their stomachs previous to digestion; and as this curdling of the milk destroys a part of the acid juices of the stomach, there is no reason for discontinuing ...
— Zoonomia, Vol. II - Or, the Laws of Organic Life • Erasmus Darwin

... started the ice and he thought about three fingers of the plumber's favorite prescription would cut out the frost. Would the crowd join him? He had invited a few friends in for the evening, but there seemed to be some misunderstanding about the date, and he hated to have good stuff curdle on his hands. ...
— Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son • George Horace Lorimer

... so full of strange horror and gloomy misery, that I dare not pause too long in the narration. If I were to dissect each incident, every small fragment of a second would contain an harrowing tale, whose minutest word would curdle the blood in thy young veins. It is right that I should erect for thy instruction this monument of the foregone race; but not that I should drag thee through the wards of an hospital, nor the secret chambers of the ...
— The Last Man • Mary Shelley

... fight, and swear, and plunge the dagger into the bosom of his nearest friend. No vice is too filthy, no crime too tragical for the drunkard. The records of our courts tell of acts committed under the influence of rum, which curdle the blood in our veins. Husbands butcher their wives; children slaughter their parents. Far the greater part of the atrocities committed in our land, proceed from its maddening power. "I declare in this public manner, and with the most solemn regard to truth," ...
— Select Temperance Tracts • American Tract Society

... could feel the heart-blood curdle cold; Again the rough wind hurried by— It blew off the hat of the one, and behold, Even close to the feet of poor Mary it roll'd,— She felt, ...
— The Children's Garland from the Best Poets • Various

... the sound of running water!" exclaimed Oh-Pshaw. "It fairly makes my blood curdle. It's been so ever since I can remember. I hate it in daylight, but at night it makes my hair stand on end! If I were out here alone with ...
— The Camp Fire Girls Do Their Bit - Or, Over the Top with the Winnebagos • Hildegard G. Frey

... followed was enough to curdle one's blood, but the young man only uttered an exclamation of disgust. He had driven a ball through the vitals of a South American cougar, instead of through one of the natives, a score of whom he gladly would have wiped out of existence had ...
— The Land of Mystery • Edward S. Ellis

... a great actor should neglect a passage that paints with one touch Hamlet's half-hysterical state. Given as it might be given, it would curdle the blood in your veins. I asked the best Hamlet it has been my fortune to see, why he left out these lines. "I have often thought I would speak them; but I don't know how." That was his answer, and a very honest one it was. But such a reason is not worthy of any man who ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, Number 59, September, 1862 • Various

... moose was, its time had come. Suddenly the animal stopped, gave a scream that made the blood curdle in all our veins, and would have sunk out of sight only that, with a last desperate effort, Ramrod got up with it, and this time succeeded in throwing the halter over its head and drawing ...
— The Empire Annual for Girls, 1911 • Various

... suspect her secret folly? The blood that had seemed to curdle around her aching heart surged into her cheeks, painting them a vivid rose, ...
— Infelice • Augusta Jane Evans Wilson

... is sensitive and resents the excessive amount of food supplied. So the infant often vomits curdled milk, and some times vomits before the milk has time to curdle. This is a form of self-protection. If the mother would heed this sign by withdrawing all food until the stomach is settled, substituting water in the meanwhile, and then reduce the baby's food to within digestive capacity, there would be no more trouble. Vomiting ...
— Maintaining Health • R. L. Alsaker

... utterly overwhelmed by this proposal to execute a law passed by Christian legislators for the government of Christian people—a law which had never been questioned by any nation, or state, or church, and was in full force all over the world. Why should the discovery of its existence curdle my blood, stop my heart-beats, and send a rush of burning shame from forehead to finger-tip? Why should I have blushed that my husband was a law-abiding citizen of the freest country in the world? Why blame him for acting in harmony with the canons of every ...
— Half a Century • Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm

... should be at one and the same time the richest gem in the crown of Spain, and the foulest blot on her escutcheon. Her treaties are violated with worse than Punic faith, and here horrors have been enacted which would make the blood of a Nero curdle in his veins. Do you ask, how are treaties violated? When slaves are brought here by our cruisers, Spain is bound by treaty to apprentice them out for three years, so as to teach them how to earn a living, and then to free them. My dear John Bull, you will be sorry to hear, that ...
— Lands of the Slave and the Free - Cuba, The United States, and Canada • Henry A. Murray

... closely, the Wild Man was a sight to curdle the blood. Remnants of chains hung from his wrists and ankles; his long hair was matted about his face; and his finger nails were long and claw-like. His face was daubed with ochre and red, with black rings around ...
— Philo Gubb Correspondence-School Detective • Ellis Parker Butler

... whites. Secondly, in keeping them and the oil quite cold. Thirdly, on adding the oil, drop by drop, until the sauce is perfectly thick. If the sauce is made in a warm place, or the oil mixed in too quickly, it is apt to curdle. Should this occur, put a yolk in another basin and very slowly add the sauce to it, stirring briskly; this will generally make it smooth again. Two yolks will be sufficient for any quantity of sauce, taragon vinegar being added in proportion ...
— The Skilful Cook - A Practical Manual of Modern Experience • Mary Harrison

... behalf of the masses. I alight wet and weary; no enthusiastic crowds press forward to greet their champion; the church bells are silent; the very name elicits no responsive feeling in their torpid bosoms. It is enough,' said the agitated Mr. Slurk, pacing to and fro, 'to curdle the ink in one's pen, and induce one to abandon their ...
— The Pickwick Papers • Charles Dickens

... to his own method, Cnut; and I am not sure that there is not something to be said for this outcry, for it is really so wild and fearful that it makes my blood almost curdle in my veins; and were it not that I know the proved valour of our knights and footmen, I should feel shaken by this terrible introduction ...
— Winning His Spurs - A Tale of the Crusades • George Alfred Henty

... very sweet. When these ingredients are well mixed, and the sugar is melted, put in the beaten yolks of 4 eggs; keep stirring the sauce until it thickens, when serve. Do not, on any account, allow it to boil, or it will curdle, and be entirely spoiled. ...
— The Book of Household Management • Mrs. Isabella Beeton

... foment sour discord, and keep their patients in perpetual hot water, alike in the bath and out of the bath; more tender in their regard for another generation, they recommend all nurses to undergo a slight course of the springs to keep their milk from turning sour, yet will curdle the milk of human kindness in our lacteals by instilling therein the sour asperity which they entertain towards each other, and which, notwithstanding the efforts of the ladies to keep peace between them, by christening ...
— Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 365, March, 1846 • Various

... lard in a porcelain vessel by a salt-water bath, or by a steam heat under 15 lbs. pressure; then run in the lye, very slowly, agitating the whole time; when about half the lye is in, the mixture begins to curdle; it will, however, become so firm that it cannot be stirred. The creme is then finished, but is not pearly; it will, however, assume that appearance by long trituration in a mortar, gradually adding the alcohol, in which ...
— The Art of Perfumery - And Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants • G. W. Septimus Piesse

... glum as that old barn owl at the camp, Olga," Louise Johnson told her under cover of the gay clamour of talk that followed. "For heaven's sake, do cheer up a bit. That face of yours is enough to curdle the ...
— The Torch Bearer - A Camp Fire Girls' Story • I. T. Thurston

... souring of milk, and maybe you will not forget how you can prevent your milk from souring. In the first place, milk sours because bacteria from the air fall into the milk, begin to grow, and very shortly change the sugar of the milk to an acid. When this acid becomes abundant, the milk begins to curdle. As you know, the bacteria are in air, in water, and in barn dust; they stick on bits of hay and stick to the cow. They are most plentiful, however, in milk that has soured; hence, if we pour a little ...
— Agriculture for Beginners - Revised Edition • Charles William Burkett

... told me, "was enough to make a man's blood curdle," so ghastly pale and emaciated was he. He rose as Lupton entered and extended ...
— The Ebbing Of The Tide - South Sea Stories - 1896 • Louis Becke

... rested upon a scene that caused the blood to curdle in his veins, and started the sweat in bead-drops over his forehead. A scene that filled his heart with horror, that caused him to feel as if some hand was clutching and compressing it between fingers ...
— The White Chief - A Legend of Northern Mexico • Mayne Reid

... replied the lieutenant; "he has good cause to remember Ijurra, now I think of it. I shall give the story to you as I heard it;" and my companion proceeded with a relation, which caused the blood to curdle in my veins, as I listened. It fully explained, if it did not palliate, the fierce hatred of the Tennessean towards ...
— The War Trail - The Hunt of the Wild Horse • Mayne Reid

... most violent agitation) I have! I have sworn it! I will keep my vow, and— hark! (the bell strikes nine; at the first sound Venoni starts, and utters a dreadful shriek; the blood seems to curdle in his veins, and he remains in an attitude ...
— The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor - Vol. I. No. 3. March 1810 • Various



Words linked to "Curdle" :   change state, homogenize, spoil, homogenise, coagulate, go bad, turn, curdling



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