📖 C — The English dictionary · page 96

cupbearer — Everyday, meaning 1: In old royal courts, a trusted servant whose job was to pour and serve wine to the king, and often to taste it first to check it was not poisoned.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (Bible) Used of Nehemiah, who was cupbearer to the Persian king, and of Pharaoh's cupbearer in the story of Joseph.↗ Example: Nehemiah was cupbearer to King Artaxerxes.↗ · Pharaoh's cupbearer told Joseph about his dream of a vine.↗ · The cupbearer tasted the wine before handing it to the king.↗ · Only the most trusted servant could be the royal cupbearer.↗ · The cupbearer promised to remember Joseph, but he forgot.↗ · In the play, Sam was the cupbearer with a golden goblet.↗ · Then she called to the cupbearers for new wine, for she thought that when his head was hot with it he might consent to stay.↗

cupboard — Everyday, meaning 1: A cupboard is a piece of furniture or a space in a wall with doors and shelves, where you keep cups, plates, food or clothes.↗ Example: There are 24 cups in the cupboard.↗ · The cupboard has 4 shelves with 6 plates on each.↗ · She took 3 cans from the cupboard.↗ · How many jars are left in the cupboard?↗ · Put the plates back in the cupboard.↗ · The cereal is in the top cupboard.↗ · Cleaning sprays are kept in a locked cupboard.↗ · Close the cupboard door.↗ · I have a whole cupboard-full of poetry in bottles.↗

cupcake — Everyday, meaning 1: A cupcake is a small cake baked in a paper or foil cup, often with icing on top.↗ A dozen cupcakes is 12 cupcakes.↗ Example: Mom baked 24 cupcakes.↗ · Each cupcake costs $2.↗ · She shared 18 cupcakes among 6 friends.↗ · A tray holds 12 cupcakes.↗ · We sold cupcakes at the bake sale.↗ · She put pink icing on each cupcake.↗ · Let the cupcakes cool before you ice them.↗ · He brought cupcakes for his birthday.↗

cupful — Everyday, meaning 1: The amount that a cup holds.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In cooking, a measure of about one cup of an ingredient.↗ Example: Add a cupful of milk to the mixture.↗ · She poured a cupful of water onto the plant.↗ · The recipe needs two cupfuls of flour.↗ · He scooped a cupful of sand into the bucket.↗ · If one cupful is 250 ml, four cupfuls make one litre.↗ · Half a cupful of sugar is plenty.↗

cupola — Everyday, meaning 1: A small rounded dome on top of a roof or tower.↗ Example: The church had a gold cupola.↗ · We could see cupolas above the city.↗

cuppa — Everyday, meaning 1: (informal, UK/Australia/NZ/Ireland) A cup of tea.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal, less often) A cup of any hot drink, such as coffee.↗ Example: Fancy a cuppa?↗ I'll put the kettle on.↗ · Nan sat down with a cuppa and a biscuit.↗ · After the long walk, everyone wanted a hot cuppa.↗ · Mum always makes a cuppa when she's had bad news.↗ · Let's have a quick cuppa before we leave.↗ · The builders stopped for a cuppa at ten.↗ · Grandad's idea of breakfast is toast and a strong cuppa.↗

cupping — Everyday, meaning 1: (verb form) Holding your hands in a curved shape like a cup: «cupping water in her hands», «cupping his ear to hear».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (noun) Cupping therapy: an old treatment in which cups are placed on the skin and the air in them is reduced so the skin is sucked up, leaving round marks; some people believe it helps aches, but there is little good scientific evidence for it.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (noun) In the coffee and tea trade, cupping is a careful tasting of coffee by smelling and slurping it to judge its quality.↗ Example: She was cupping a tiny frog in her hands.↗ · He shouted with his hands cupped around his mouth.↗ · Grandad was cupping his ear because he couldn't hear me.↗ · The swimmer had round red marks on his back from cupping.↗ · Scientists say there is not much evidence that cupping therapy works.↗ · We drank from the stream by cupping the water in our hands.↗ · At the coffee shop, the staff were cupping new beans to taste them.↗

cur — Everyday, meaning 1: (old) A cur is a dog of no special breed, especially a bad-tempered or dirty one.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (old, insulting) Calling a man a cur means he is mean, cowardly or worthless.↗ Example: A mangy cur barked at the beggar.↗ · «Out of my way, you cowardly cur!»↗ · The village curs chased the cart.↗ · The cur snarled and showed its teeth.↗ · Only a cur would hit someone smaller.↗ · Fury, the dog in the Mouse's tale, acts as judge and jury.↗

curable — Everyday, meaning 1: (of an illness or injury) Able to be cured or made completely better.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (of a problem) Able to be fixed or put right.↗ Example: Most ear infections are easily curable with medicine.↗ · The doctor said Grandpa's illness is curable.↗ · Many diseases that were once deadly are now curable.↗ · Head lice are annoying but curable.↗ · Shyness is curable — with a bit of practice.↗ · If it is found early, the illness is often curable.↗

curative — Everyday, meaning 1: Able to cure an illness or make someone healthy again.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) Meant to correct or put right a problem, not just to stop it from getting worse.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (noun, rare) A medicine or treatment that cures.↗ Example: The old woman believed the spring water had curative powers.↗ · Doctors hoped the new medicine would be curative.↗ · Some plants have curative properties.↗ · Surgery can be curative if the problem is found early.↗ · Rest and fluids have a curative effect on a cold.↗ · (formal) The council took curative measures to fix the flooding.↗

curb — Everyday, meaning 1: To curb something is to hold it back or keep it under control: curb your temper.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A curb is the stone edge of a pavement by the road.↗ Example: Try to curb your appetite at the party.↗ · The rider used the bit to curb the horse.↗ · Stand back from the curb when the bus comes.↗ · I said: 'I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue; I will keep a curb upon my mouth, while the wicked is before me.'↗ (Writings PSA.39.2, JPS 1917)↗

curd — Everyday, meaning 1: Curds are the thick white lumps that form when milk goes sour or is made to separate; they are used to make cheese.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Curd is a thick, creamy spread made with fruit juice, sugar, eggs and butter, as in lemon curd.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Curd can mean soft cheese, like cottage cheese, or bean curd (tofu).↗ Example: Little Miss Muffet ate her curds and whey.↗ · Add lemon juice and the milk turns into curds.↗ · Cheesemakers press the curds into blocks.↗ · I love lemon curd on toast.↗ · Poutine is chips with gravy and cheese curds.↗ · Squeaky cheese curds are a snack in Canada.↗ · Bean curd is another name for tofu.↗ · "Give me some curds, too, Dovey!"↗ · And he took curd, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.↗ (Torah GEN.18.8, JPS 1917)↗ · Curd of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and he-goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat; and of the blood of the grape thou drankest foaming wine.↗ (Torah DEU.32.14, JPS 1917)↗ · He shall not look upon the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and curd.↗ (Writings JOB.20.17, JPS 1917)↗ · Water he asked, milk she gave him; in a lordly bowl she brought him curd.↗ (Prophets JDG.5.25, JPS 1917)↗ · Curd and honey shall he eat, when he knoweth to refuse the evil, and choose the good.↗ (Prophets ISA.7.15, JPS 1917)↗

curdled — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: Turned into soft lumps, as milk does when it thickens.↗ Example: Hast Thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?↗ (Writings JOB.10.10, JPS 1917)↗

cure — Everyday, meaning 1: A cure is a medicine or treatment that makes an illness go away completely.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To cure someone or an illness is to make them well again.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To cure a problem is to solve it.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To cure meat or fish is to keep it from going bad by salting, smoking or drying it, like bacon.↗ Example: There is no cure for the common cold.↗ · Medicine cured her infection.↗ · Scientists are looking for a cure for the disease.↗ · Prevention is better than cure.↗ · A good sleep is the best cure for tiredness.↗ · The wizard searched for a cure for the sleeping princess.↗ · Bacon is cured meat.↗ · Fresh air cured my headache.↗ · Behold, I will bring it healing and cure, and I will cure them; and I will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.↗ (Prophets JER.33.6, JPS 1917)↗ · Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt; in vain dost thou use many medicines; there is no cure for thee.↗ (Prophets JER.46.11, JPS 1917)↗ · And when Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to King Contentious; but he is not able to heal you, neither shall he cure you of your wound.↗ (Prophets HOS.5.13, JPS 1917)↗

curfew — Everyday, meaning 1: A curfew is a rule that says people must be indoors or at home by a certain time, especially at night.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A curfew is the time by which a child or teenager must be home, set by their parents.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (history) In the Middle Ages, the curfew was a bell rung in the evening telling people to put out their fires.↗ Example: My big sister's curfew is ten o'clock on Saturdays.↗ · The army set a curfew, and nobody could go out after dark.↗ · He broke his curfew and was grounded for a week.↗ · The campers had to be in their tents by curfew.↗ · During the storm, the town had a night-time curfew.↗ · In medieval towns, a bell rang for curfew.↗

curie — Everyday, meaning 1: (a name) Marie Curie was a scientist born in Poland who worked in France; she discovered the elements radium and polonium, studied radioactivity, and was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to win two in different sciences.↗ Pierre Curie was her husband and work partner.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A curie is an old unit for measuring radioactivity, named after the Curies.↗ Example: Marie Curie won two Nobel Prizes.↗ · Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium.↗ · Marie Curie studied radioactivity.↗ · Her notebooks are still radioactive and are kept in lead boxes.↗ · Marie Curie was born in Poland.↗ · The Marie Curie charity helps people at the end of their lives.↗ · Radioactivity can be measured in curies.↗ · We dressed up as Marie Curie for our science day.↗

curiosity — Everyday, meaning 1: A strong wish to know or learn about something.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A strange or rare object that people find interesting.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Curiosity is also the name of a NASA rover exploring Mars.↗ Example: Out of curiosity, how old is your dog?↗ · Scientists are driven by curiosity.↗ · The kitten's curiosity led it into the cupboard.↗ · Her curiosity about the stars made her want to be an astronaut.↗ · The museum is full of curiosities from long ago.↗ · Curiosity is good, but never open bottles you don't know.↗ · The Curiosity rover sends photos from Mars.↗ · Curiosity made him put his eye to the keyhole.↗

curious — Everyday, meaning 1: Wanting to know or learn about something; eager to find out.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Strange, unusual or interesting in a surprising way (a curious noise).↗ Example: Kittens are very curious and explore every box.↗ · I'm curious about how volcanoes work.↗ · She was curious to know what was inside the parcel.↗ · A curious smell came from the kitchen.↗ · Curious scientists ask «Why?» and «What if?»↗ · It's good to be curious, but don't touch a needle you find on the ground.↗ · What a curious little shell — it's shaped like a spiral!↗ · I am curious to hear the end."↗

curiously — Everyday, meaning 1: In a way that shows you want to know or learn about something: «The cat sniffed the box curiously.».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Strangely or oddly: «The house was curiously quiet.».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (at the start of a sentence) «Curiously, …» means «It is strange that …».↗ Example: Alice peeped curiously into the little door.↗ · The puppy curiously sniffed the new toy.↗ · The street was curiously empty that morning.↗ · Curiously, nobody had heard the bell.↗ · She looked curiously at the strange box.↗ · The Mole asked curiously what lived in the Wild Wood.↗ · As Dorothy entered they looked at her curiously, and one of them whispered:↗ · It derives from the root נפ״שׁ NPSh, having to do with breathing, refreshing, and resting; its etymological relationships with curiously similar roots like נשׁ״ם NShM ‘to breathe, pant’, נשׁ״ף NShP ‘to blow’, and נשׁ״ב NShB ‘to blow’ are unclear.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗ · the Pythagorean philosophy, corresponds curiously to Joseph ben Uziel who wrote down the Sefer Yetzirah.↗ (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗ · My frame was not hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.↗ (Writings PSA.139.15, JPS 1917)↗