curse

curse
\ \ [OE] Curse first appeared in late Old English (in the early 11th century) as curs. It has no known linguistic relatives, and it is not clear where it comes from. Perhaps the most plausible suggestion is that it was borrowed from Old French curuzanger’ (which probably came from the verb *corruptiāre, a Vulgar Latin derivative of Latin corrumperedestroy’ – source of English corrupt), and that curse itself therefore originally meant ‘anger, wrath’. The colloquial alteration cuss dates from the 18th century.
\ \ Cf.CORRUPT, RUPTURE

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Curse — bei einem Open Air Festival 2009 Logo des Rappers Curse (* 6. September 1978; bürgerlich Michael Sebastian Kurth …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • curse — n Curse, imprecation, malediction, anathema are comparable when they denote a denunciation that conveys a wish or threat of evil. Curse (opposed to blessing)usually implies a call upon God or a supernatural power to visit punishment or disaster… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • Curse — Curse, n. [AS. curs. See {Curse}, v. t.] 1. An invocation of, or prayer for, harm or injury; malediction. [1913 Webster] Lady, you know no rules of charity, Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses. Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. Evil pronounced …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Curse — (k?rs), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Cursed} (k?rst) or {Curst}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Cursing}.] [AS. cursian, corsian, perh. of Scand. origin; cf. Dan. korse to make the sign of the cross, Sw. korsa, fr. Dan. & Sw. kors cross, Icel kross, all these Scand.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • curse — [kʉrs] n. [ME & Late OE n. curs, v. cursian: prob. < L cursus (see COURSE), used of the course of daily liturgical prayers and of the set of imprecations in the formal recital of offenses entailing excommunication; hence, consignment to an… …   English World dictionary

  • Curse — Curse, v. i. To utter imprecations or curses; to affirm or deny with imprecations; to swear. [1913 Webster] Then began he to curse and to swear. Matt. xxi. 74. [1913 Webster] His spirits hear me, And yet I need must curse. Shak. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • curse — (n.) late O.E. curs a prayer that evil or harm befall one, of uncertain origin, perhaps from O.Fr. curuz anger, or L. cursus course. Connection with cross is unlikely. No similar word exists in Germanic, Romance, or Celtic. The verb is O.E.… …   Etymology dictionary

  • curse — [n1] hateful, swearing remark anathema, ban, bane, blaspheming, blasphemy, commination, cursing, cussing*, cuss word*, damning, denunciation, dirty name*, dirty word*, double whammy*, execration, expletive, four letter word*, fulmination,… …   New thesaurus

  • curse — ► NOUN 1) an appeal to a supernatural power to inflict harm on someone or something. 2) a cause of harm or misery. 3) an offensive word or phrase used to express anger or annoyance. ► VERB 1) use a curse against. 2) (be cursed with) be afflicted… …   English terms dictionary

  • curse — index expletive, imprecation, malediction, malign, proscribe (denounce) Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • Curse — For other uses, see Curse (disambiguation). A woman makes a cursing ritual ceremony, by Hokusai A curse (also called execration) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity one or… …   Wikipedia

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