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curtal

[kur-tl]
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adjective
  1. Archaic. wearing a short frock: a curtal friar.
  2. Obsolete. brief; curtailed.
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noun
  1. a 16th-century bassoon.
  2. Obsolete. an animal with a docked tail.
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Origin of curtal

1500–10; earlier courtault < Middle French, equivalent to court short (see curt) + -ault, variant of -ald noun suffix; see ribald
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for curtal

Historical Examples

  • Now I may go in and out as I will, being a curtal friar and not now remembered in these parts.

    Robin Hood

    Paul Creswick

  • Curtal, kur′tal, n. a horse with a curt or docked tail: anything docked or cut short.

  • Item, double trottynge hors, called a curtal, for his lordship to ryde on out of townes.

    Ten Thousand Wonderful Things

    Edmund Fillingham King

  • Curtal is a small horse; properly one who hath his tail docked or curtailed.

  • "I am but a poor anchorite, a curtal friar," replied the other, pushing out for his side of the river.

    Robin Hood

    Paul Creswick

British Dictionary definitions for curtal

curtal

adjective
  1. cut short
  2. (of friars) wearing a short frock
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noun
  1. an animal whose tail has been docked
  2. something that is cut short
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Word Origin

C16: from Old French courtault animal whose tail has been docked, from court short, from Latin curtus; see curt
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012