curl

CURL, v.t.

1. To turn, bend or form into ringlets; to crisp; as the hair.

2. To writhe; to twist; to coil; as a serpent.

3. To dress with curls.

The snaky locks that curled Megaera.

4. To raise in waves or undulations; to ripple.

Seas would be pools, without the brushing air to curl the waves.

CURL, v.i.

1. To bend in contraction; to shrink into ringlets.

2. To rise in waves or undulation; to ripple; and particularly, to roll over at the summit; as a curling wave.

3. To rise in a winding current, and to roll over at the ends; as curling smoke.

4. To writhe; to twist itself.

Then round her slender waist he curled.

5. To shrink; to shrink back; to bend and sink. He curled down into a corner.

CURL, n.

1. A ringlet of hair, or any thing of a like form.

2. Undulation; a waving; sinuosity; flexure.

3. A winding int he grain of wood.