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definitions

kerb

[kurb]
noun, verb (used with object) British.
  1. curb(defs 1, 15).
Can be confusedcurb kerb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for kerb

Historical Examples of kerb

  • There was a mess of thick, congealing blood splashed on the road and the kerb.

    Changing Winds

    St. John G. Ervine

  • I felt inclined to sit down on the kerb and hold my head in my hands.

    Chance

    Joseph Conrad

  • A stone “kerb,” or banquette, ran around one portion of the wall.

    The Quadroon

    Mayne Reid

  • A man in my persition has got no right to dress as if he kept a stall on the kerb.

  • At the end of the street a taxi was drawn up at the kerb awaiting him.

British Dictionary definitions for kerb

kerb

US and Canadian curb

noun
  1. a line of stone or concrete forming an edge between a pavement and a roadway, so that the pavement is some 15 cm above the level of the road
verb
  1. (tr) to provide with or enclose with a kerb

Word Origin for kerb

C17: from Old French courbe bent, from Latin curvus; see curve
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
Word Origin and History for kerb
n.

1660s, a variant of curb (q.v.). The preferred British English spelling in certain specialized senses, especially "edging of stone on a pavement" (1805).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper