Curious \Cu"ri*ous\ (k?"r?-?s), a. [OF. curios, curius, F.
curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See
{Cure}.]
1. Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct;
careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Little curious in her clothes. --Fuller.
[1913 Webster]
How shall we,
If he be curious, work upon his faith? --Beau. & Fl.
[1913 Webster]
2. Exhibiting care or nicety; artfully constructed;
elaborate; wrought with elegance or skill.
[1913 Webster]
To devise curious works. --Ex. xxxv. 32
[1913 Webster]
His body couched in a curious bed. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
3. Careful or anxious to learn; eager for knowledge; given to
research or inquiry; habitually inquisitive; prying; --
sometimes with after or of.
[1913 Webster]
It is a pity a gentleman so very curious after
things that were elegant and beautiful should not
have been as curious as to their origin, their uses,
and their natural history. --Woodward.
[1913 Webster]
4. Exciting attention or inquiry; awakening surprise;
inviting and rewarding inquisitiveness; not simple or
plain; strange; rare. "Acurious tale" --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
A multitude of curious analogies. --Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
Many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore.
--E. A. Poe.
[1913 Webster]
Abstruse investigations in recondite branches of
learning or sciense often bring to light curious
results. --C. J. Smith.
[1913 Webster]
{Curious arts}, magic. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Many . . . which used curious arts brought their
books together, and burned them. --Acts xix.
19.
Syn: Inquisitive; prying. See {Inquisitive}.
[1913 Webster]
|
