cur
noun
a mongrel dog, especially a worthless or unfriendly one.
cur
1 American
[kur]
/ kɜr /
noun
-
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
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.
He sat in his Ram 1500 pickup truck with his German shepherd, Kona, and his Black Mouth Cur, Jasper, hoping he could return after being forced to evacuate 16 days ago.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 3, 2021
The Original Mountain Cur Breeders Association may not seem like the world’s best resource for a politician hungry for votes, but Brown was quick to correct me.
From Slate • Aug. 8, 2014
Branka Cur and her family have been selling what they've caught for 30 years.
From BBC • Apr. 27, 2013
He claims to have intelligence contacts behind the Iron Cur tain, and was arrested in 1953 because of his connections with suspected Soviet spies.
From Time Magazine Archive
“The case of Little Reuben occurred only twenty-three years after Cur Ford’s first T-Model was put on the market.”
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
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.
