Dictionary entry

Curl (3)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Curl (kûrl), n. [Akin to D. krul, Dan. krölle. See Curl, v.] 1. A ringlet, especially of hair; anything of a spiral or winding form.

Under a coronet, his flowing hair

In curls on either cheek played.

Milton.

2. An undulating or waving line or streak in any substance, as wood, glass, etc.; flexure; sinuosity.

If the glass of the prisms... be without those numberless waves or curls which usually arise from the sand holes.

Sir I. Newton.

3. A disease in potatoes, in which the leaves, at their first appearance, seem curled and shrunken.

Blue curls. (Bot.) See under Blue.