curdle

[kur-dl]

verb (used with or without object)

curdled, curdling 

1. to change into curd; coagulate; congeal.

2. to spoil; turn sour.

3. to go wrong; turn bad or fail.

   Their friendship began to curdle as soon as they became business rivals.

curdle

/ ˈkɜːdəl /

verb

1. to turn or cause to turn into curd

2. to fill someone with fear

Other Word Forms

• curdler noun
• noncurdling adjective
• uncurdled adjective
• uncurdling adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of curdle¹

First recorded in 1580–90; curd + -le

Word History and Origins

Origin of curdle¹

C16 ( crudled, past participle): from _curd

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. curdle the / one's blood, to fill a person with horror or fear; terrify.

   a scream that curdled the blood.

Example Sentences

The admiral and his wife met gruesome ends, true, but it was their son Pax whose spirit was curdled by the wolf’s curse.

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By now she understood that the mood in the nursery had begun to curdle, so to speak, and that the cause had something to do with her shutting of the windows.

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There may be an undercurrent of gossip, like the hints of discord between Affleck and Leavitt, but nothing that curdles our mood.

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That’s exactly what we’re talking about: Some mishmash misreading of Shakespeare’s “Henry V” mixed with the myth of Winston Churchill, that unregenerate racist curmudgeon turned right-wing godhead, has curdled Elon’s brain.

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But what the screenplay lacks in depth, the film makes up for in visual pageantry, packing just enough style to rise above a truly curdled genre offering.

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