curse, cors, curs

[A. S. curs, cors.] 1. An imprecation or invoking of evil upon; a malediction. IMG:content-1612.png:[blocks in formation] ""Tis the curse in love, When women cannot love when they're beloved." Shakesp.: Two Gent. of Ver., v. 4. The Curse of Scotland. The nine of diamonds. The epithet is variously accounted for; by some it is said to have originated from the tidings of the defeat of the Scots at Culloden having been written on the back of this card. Others explain it as a corruption of Cro of Scotland , the pips being arranged somewhat like a St. Andrew's Cro . Others, again, refer the origin to the arms (a cro of lozenges, arranged like the nine of diamonds) of Col. Parker, who governed with great cruelty in Scotland after the death of Charles I.; others explain it by the resemblance of the arms of the Earl of Stair, who was concerned in the ma acre of Glencoe. Grose, in his Cla ical Dictionary , gives the following explanation: "Diamonds, it is said, imply royalty, being ornaments to the imperial crown; and every ninth king of Scotland has been observed, for many ages, to be a tyrant and a curse to that country. Others say, it is from its similarity to the arms of Argyle; the Duke of Argyle having been greatly instrumental in bringing about the Union, which, by some Scotch patriots, has been considered as detrimental to their country." The vulgar phrase, not to care a curse , has really no connection whatever with the word curse ; it is a corruption of a phrase not uncommon in Middle English, as in P. Plowman (C. xii. 14), "nat worth a karse ," that is, not worth a cre . [CRESS.] cŭrs-ěd, †cürst, pa . par . & a. [CURSE, v.] A. As pa. par.; (See the verb.) B. As adjective : 1. Deserving of a curse; execrable; accursed, abominable, damnabie. "Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it; but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing."-Deut. vii. 26. 2. Blasted by a curse; execrated, accursed, damned. "How long on these curs'd confines will ye lie?" Pope : Homer's Iliad , xv. 594. 3. Vexatious, troublesome. 'The cursed quarrel be no more renew'd." *4. Froward, shrewish, malicious. Dryden. IMG:content-1613.png:[blocks in formation] ne . *4. A cursed action. blasphemer. "How durst he, I say, oppose thy curship , 'Gainst arms, authority, and worship?" *curs-ynge, pr . par ., a. & s . [CURSE, V.] curs-ing, *cors-inge, *cors-ynge, *curs-inge, A. & B. As pr . par . & particip . adj .: (See the verb.) IMG:content-1614.png:[blocks in formation] I. Ordinary Language: 1. A courier, a runner. ". Parochial Magazine. cursory