curtail (kertal)

t. [Cf. curtail, a. and n.; orig. curtal, the form curtail being a corruption due to a ociation with E. tail (see taill ) or F. tailler, cut: see tail2. The accent was orig. on the first syllable.] 1. To cut short; cut off the end or a part of; dock; diminish in extent or quantity:: as, to curtail words. Then why should we ourselves abridge, And curtail our own privilege? IMG:content-1853.jpg:[graphic] S. Butler, Hudibras. The debts were paid, habits reformed, Expense curtailed , the dowry set to grow. Browning, Ring and Book, I. 160. 2. To deprive by excision or removal; abate by deprivation or negation: as, to curtail one of part of his allowance, or of his proper title. I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion, Deform'd, unfinish'd. Shak., Rich. III., i. 1. But which of us knows among the men he meets whom time will dignify by curtailing him of "Mr.," and re ducing him to a bare patronymic, as being a kind by him things and can be perceived by every cursory observer. Cursory bachelor, in medieval universities, a bachelor who was appointed to give cursory lectures. See bac he lor, 2 (b). - Cursory lectures, in medieval universities, lectures which could be given by a bachelor. They consisted either in the reading of the text of the book forming the subject of the ordinary lectures of a given master, with explanations of the meaning, sentence by sentence, or in lectures upon subjects not included in the ordinary lectures, but authorized by the nation or superior faculty. =Syn. 3. Desultory, inattentive, pa ing. curst (kérst), p. a. [Same as cursed (pron. as curst ), pp. of cursel, v.: used familiarly with sinking of its literal sense: see cursed. Cf. wicked and damned (in its colloquial profane use), which show a similar development of [A than asia creed, but that the Greeks had been the meaning.] 1. Shrewish; waspish; vixenish; ill-tempered: applied to women. What is most trouble to man Of all thinges that be lyuing? A curst wyfe shortneth his lyfe. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 86. She's a curst quean, tell him, and plays the scold behind his back. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 3. Her only fault (and that is faults enough) Is, that she is intolerable curst , And shrewd, and froward. Shak . , T. of the S., i. 2. 2. Ill-tempered; crabbed; cantankerous; peevish; snarling: applied to men. Alas, what kind of grief can thy years know? Hadst thou a curst master when thou went'st to school? Beau , and Fl . , Phil aster, ii. 3. IMG:content-1854.png:[blocks in formation] Sheridan, The Duenna, iii. 2. [Obsolete or archaic in all uses.]