curry2
- to rub and clean (a horse) with a currycomb.
- to dress (tanned hides) by soaking, scraping, beating, coloring, etc.
- to beat; thrash.
- curry favor, to seek to advance oneself through flattery or fawning: His fellow workers despised him for currying favor with the boss.
Origin of curry2
curry1
- a spicy dish of oriental, esp Indian, origin that is made in many ways but usually consists of meat or fish prepared in a hot piquant sauce
- curry seasoning or sauce
- give someone curry Australian slang to assault (a person) verbally or physically
- (tr) to prepare (food) with curry powder or sauce
Word Origin
curry2
- to beat vigorously, as in order to clean
- to dress and finish (leather) after it has been tanned to make it strong, flexible, and waterproof
- to groom (a horse)
- curry favour to ingratiate oneself, esp with superiors
Word Origin
Curry
- John (Anthony). 1949–94, British ice skater: won the figure-skating gold medal in the 1976 Olympic Games
Word Origin and History for curry favor
v.
early 16c., altered by folk etymology from curry favel (c.1400) from Old French correier fauvel "to be false, hypocritical," literally "to curry the chestnut horse," which in medieval French allegories was a symbol of cunning and deceit. See curry (v.). Old French fauvel is from a Germanic source and ultimately related to fallow (adj.); the sense here is entangled with that of similar-sounding Old French favele "lying, deception," from Latin fabella, diminutive of fabula (see fable (n.)).
curry
curry
n.
the spice, 1680s, from Tamil kari "sauce, relish for rice."
curry favor
“Currying favor” with someone means trying to ingratiate oneself by fawning over that person: “The ambassador curried favor with the dictator by praising his construction projects.”
Idioms and Phrases with curry favor
curry favor
Seek gain or advancement by fawning or flattery, as in Edith was famous for currying favor with her teachers. This expression originally came from the Old French estriller fauvel, “curry the fallow horse,” a beast that in a 14th-century allegory stood for duplicity and cunning. It came into English about 1400 as curry favel—that is, curry (groom with a currycomb) the animal—and in the 1500s became the present term.