cuss
/kʌs/ verb, noun
Forms cusses cussing cussed
- verb (chiefly US, colloquial) To use cursing, to use bad language, to speak profanely.
- noun (chiefly US, colloquial) A curse.
- noun (chiefly US, colloquial) A curse word.
- noun (chiefly US, colloquial) Fellow, person. “He's an abrupt-sounding cuss, but good-hearted too.”
- noun (dated, chiefly US, colloquial) A fellow, person.
Synonyms
pest blighter pesterer gadfly chap fellow feller fella lad gent bloke curse curse word expletive oath swearing swearword blaspheme swear imprecate
Etymology
An American English variant of curse; for a similar phonetic development, compare ass (“buttocks”), from arse, in which the r was originally pronounced (as in curse). Etymology 1, noun sense 3 (“fellow, person”) is from the replacement of a derogatory or affectionate curse word like bitch in son of a bitch with the word cuss, after etymology 1, noun sense 2 (“curse word”).
Clipping of customer.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “cuss”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details