cure
UK /kjɵː/ · US /kjʊɹ/ noun, verb, proper noun
- noun A method, device or medication that restores good health.
- noun An act of healing or state of being healed; restoration to health after a disease, or to soundness after injury.
- noun (figurative) A solution to a problem.
- noun A process of preservation, as by smoking.
- noun Cured fish.
- noun A process of solidification or gelling.
- noun (engineering) A process whereby a material is caused to form permanent molecular linkages by exposure to chemicals, heat, pressure or weathering.
- noun (obsolete) Care, heed, or attention.
- verb (transitive) To restore to health. “Unaided nature cured him.”
- verb (transitive) To bring (a disease or its bad effects) to an end. “Unaided nature cured his ailments.”
- verb (transitive) To cause to be rid of (a defect). “Experience will cure him of his naïveté.”
- verb (transitive) To prepare or alter, especially by chemical or physical processing for keeping or use. “The smoke and heat cures the meat.”
- verb To preserve (food), typically by salting.
- verb (intransitive) To bring about a cure of any kind.
- verb (intransitive) To undergo a chemical or physical process for preservation or use. “The meat was put in the smokehouse to cure.”
- verb (intransitive) To solidify or gel. “The parts were curing in the autoclave.”
- noun (UK, slang, obsolete) An eccentric person.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
curative mithridate treacle curacy heal remedy therapeutic bring around
Etymology
From Middle English cure, borrowed from Old French cure (“care, cure, healing, cure of souls”), from Latin cura (“care, medical attendance, cure”). Displaced native Old English hǣlu, but this survived as heal.
From Middle English curen, from Old French curer, from Latin cūrāre. Partially displaced Old English ġehǣlan, whence Modern English heal.
From curiosity.
* As an Irish and Scottish Gaelic surname, reduced from McClure. Also compare McIver.
* As an English surname, from the noun cure.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Care, heed, or attention. [Obs.]
- noun Spiritual charge; care of soul; the office of a parish priest or of a curate; hence, that which is committed to the charge of a parish priest or of a curate; a curacy; as, to resign a cure; to obtain a cure.
- verb To heal; to restore to health, soundness, or sanity; to make well; --said of a patient.
- verb To subdue or remove by remedial means; to remedy; to remove; to heal; --said of a malady.
Etymology [OF, cure care, F., also, cure, healing, cure of souls, L. cura care, medical attendance, cure; perh. akin to cavere to pay heed, E. cution. Cure is not related to care.]
Etymology [OF. curer to take care, to heal, F., only, to cleanse, L. curare to take care, to heal, fr. cura. See Cure,.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cure”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details