cur
noun
a mongrel dog, especially a worthless or unfriendly one.
cur
1 American
[kur]
/ kɜr /
noun
-
curs
plural
-
a mongrel dog, especially a worthless or unfriendly one.
-
a mean, cowardly person.
- Synonyms:
- heel, cad, blackguard
cur.
2
American
abbreviation
-
currency.
-
current.
cur
British
/ kɜː /
noun
-
any vicious dog, esp a mongrel
-
a despicable or cowardly person
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of cur
1175–1225; Middle English curre, apparently shortened from curdogge. See cur dog
Explanation
A cur is a dog that isn't very good — or is a mixed breed. If dogs understood English, they would be offended at being called a cur. When you use the word cur, you're talking about a dog that's either a mutt, very unattractive, aggressive, or all three. The word can also be used as an insult for a person, especially a despicable man. In Old English, the word cur was originally cur-dog, which sometimes was used to describe any dog — good, bad, pedigreed or part Shepherd, part Collie, part whatever.
Vocabulary lists containing cur
Where the Red Fern Grows
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Twelfth Night
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The Merchant of Venice
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“The black mouth cur is the best dog out there,” said Payne.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 26, 2018
Young women would boast about being chatted up by the old cur at the local deli.
From Slate ● Nov. 11, 2016
Our Hei-Hei — a Pekingese cross, we believe — looks quite the cur in such well-bred circles.
From Time ● Jun. 15, 2016
"At least this wee fella loves me," he simpered, nanoseconds before the cur sank its gnashers into the hand of the Souness-shunning sadsack.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 14, 2012
And the man ran past him like a cur and was gone.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
I am informed that it is designated simply cur. by Schwartze himself.
From A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Vol. II. by Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose
"Speak for yourself, you cur." cried Shelton, "since it is you, and your dishonest management of his estates, that have brought him to this pass."
From Adrien Leroy by Garvice, Charles
But it’s not the dirty-looking curs that run, snarl, bark and gnash their teeth behind fences when a visitor approaches that one needs to fear.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2024
“As a rule, they’re cowardly curs, anyway. Keep your eye right on them, that’s all.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2022
He has 20 dogs, black mouth curs, and uses three to four dogs in his performance.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 26, 2018
"Awakening fear, the poet-mobs howl round / A chant of quarrelling curs on the burning-ground."
From The Guardian ● Jul. 27, 2012
Even now they were snarling and whimpering by turns, pulling at their leashes while Chett cursed them for curs.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
