v.
- form or cause to form a curved or spiral shape.
▸
(curl up)
sit or lie with the knees drawn up.
- move or cause to move in a spiral or curved course.
- (in weight training) lift (a weight) using only the hands, wrists, and forearms.
- play at the game of curling.
n.
- a thing forming a spiral or coil, especially a lock of hair.
▸the tendency of hair to form curls.
- a weightlifting exercise involving movement of only the hands, wrists, and forearms.
- Mathematics a function giving a measure of the rotation of a vector field.
Phrase
- make one's hair curl
informal shock or horrify one.
Etymology
ME: from obs. crulle ‘curly’, from MDu. krul.