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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

curl someone's hair en · VERB

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic) To frighten, dismay, or excite someone thoroughly.
    • After I printed that letter the volume of mail I received from survivors of child sexual abuse curled my hair. 2004 October 4, Abigail Van Buren, “Dear Abby”, in Beaver County Times, retrieved 10 Oct 2010:
    • Yanking open the door to the bathroom, I was greeted with a stink foul enough to curl my hair. 2008, Jackie Kessler, Hell's Belles, →ISBN, page 317:
    • "I'm not hankering for the dramatic in life, but we had a run last night that would curl your hair." 1903, Andy Adams, chapter 7, in The Log of a Cowboy:
    • "I'd have written him such a letter as would have curled his hair." 1947, Harry Sylvester, Moon Gaffney (1976 edition), ISBN 780405093593, p. 116
    • "Tell the son-of-a-gun for me that next time we meet I'll curl his hair right." 1917, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 16, in The Sheriff's Son:
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see curl, someone's, hair.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
make someone's hair curl alternative lexicographic
curling someone's hair Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
curls someone's hair Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
curled someone's hair Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
curled someone's hair Tense=Past lexicographic

Relateds

hair-curling