Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Curious
Cu′ri-ous
(k?′r?-?s)
, Adj.
1.
Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact.
[Obs.]
Little
curious
in her clothes. Fuller.
How shall we,
If he be
If he be
curious
, work upon his faith? Beau. & Fl.
2.
Exhibiting care or nicety; artfully constructed; elaborate; wrought with elegance or skill.
To devise
curious
works. Ex. xxxv. 32
His body couched in a
curious
bed. Shakespeare
3.
Careful or anxious to learn; eager for knowledge; given to research or inquiry; habitually inquisitive; prying; – sometimes with after or of.
It is a pity a gentleman so very
curious
after things that were elegant and beautiful should not have been as curious
as to their origin, their uses, and their natural history. Woodward.
4.
Exciting attention or inquiry; awakening surprise; inviting and rewarding inquisitiveness; not simple or plain; strange; rare.
“Acurious tale” Shak.
A multitude of
curious
analogies. Macaulay.
Many a quaint and
curious
volume of forgotten lore. E. A. Poe.
Abstruse investigations in recondite branches of learning or sciense often bring to light
curious
results. C. J. Smith.
Curious arts
, magic.
[Obs.]
Syn. – Inquisitive; prying. See
Inquisitive
. Webster 1828 Edition
Curious
CURIOUS
,Adj.
1.
Strongly desirous to see what is novel, or to discover what is unknown; solicitous to see or to know; inquisitive.Be not curious in unnecessary matters, nor to pry into the concerns of your neighbors.
2.
Habitually inquisitive; addicted to research or enquiry; as a man of a curious turn of mind; sometimes followed by after, and sometimes by of.Curious after things elegant and beautiful; curious of antiquities.
3.
Accurate; careful not to mistake; solicitous to be correct.Men were not curious what syllables or particles they used.
4.
Careful; nice; solicitous in selection; difficult to please.A temperate man is not curious of delicacies.
5.
Nice; exact; subtile; made with care.Both these senses embrace their objects--with a more curious discrimination.
6.
Artful; nicely diligent.Each ornament about her seemly lies, by curious chance, or careless art, composed.
7.
Wrought with care and art; elegant; neat; finished; as a curious girdle; curious work Exodus 28 and 30.8.
Requiring care and nicety; as curious arts. Acts 19.9.
Rigid; severe; particular. [Little used.]10.
Rare; singular; a a curious fact.Definition 2024
curious
curious
English
Adjective
curious (comparative curiouser or more curious, superlative curiousest or most curious)
- (obsolete) Fastidious, particular; demanding a high standard of excellence, difficult to satisfy.
- 1612, John Smith, Proceedings of the English Colonie in Virginia, in Kupperman 1988, p.172:
- But departing thence, when we found no houses, we were not curious in any weather, to lie 3 or 4 nights together upon any shore under the trees by a good fire.
- Thomas Fuller (1606-1661)
- little curious in her clothes
- 1612, John Smith, Proceedings of the English Colonie in Virginia, in Kupperman 1988, p.172:
- Inquisitive; tending to ask questions, investigate, or explore.
- Young children are naturally curious about the world and everything in it.
- Prompted by curiosity.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ix:
- But he to shift their curious request, / Gan causen, why she could not come in place […].
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ix:
- Unusual; odd; out of the ordinary; bizarre.
- The platypus is a curious creature, with fur like a mammal and a beak like a bird.
- 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:
- Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
- (archaic) Exhibiting care or nicety; artfully constructed; elaborate; wrought with elegance or skill.
- 1611, Bible (KJV), Exodus 28:8:
- And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.
- William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
- his body couched in a curious bed
- 1611, Bible (KJV), Exodus 28:8:
Translations
inquisitive
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unusual
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