CUR

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does cur mean? 

• CUR (noun)
  The noun CUR has 2 senses:

1. an inferior dog or one of mixed breed

2. a cowardly and despicable person

  Familiarity information: CUR used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CUR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An inferior dog or one of mixed breed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

cur; mongrel; mutt

Hypernyms ("cur" is a kind of...):

Canis familiaris; dog; domestic dog (a member of the genus Canis (probably descended from the common wolf) that has been domesticated by man since prehistoric times; occurs in many breeds)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cur"):

feist; fice (a nervous belligerent little mongrel dog)

pariah dog; pie-dog; pye-dog (ownerless half-wild mongrel dog common around Asian villages especially India)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A cowardly and despicable person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("cur" is a kind of...):

coward (a person who shows fear or timidity)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cur"):

caitiff (a cowardly and despicable person)

 Context examples 

There was deep-mouthed shouting of men, frightened shrieks of women, howling and barking of curs, and over all a sullen, thunderous rumble, indescribably menacing and terrible.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The next instant the latter kicked me, violently, as a cur is kicked.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

So up she ran from the cellar; and sure enough the rascally cur had got the steak in his mouth, and was making off with it.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

“Here, Jim—here's a cur'osity for you,” said Silver, and he tossed me the paper.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

To inquire what he might have done, if he had had any boldness, would be like inquiring what a mongrel cur might do, if it had the spirit of a tiger.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Much could not be hoped from the traffic of even the busiest part of Highbury;—Mr. Perry walking hastily by, Mr. William Cox letting himself in at the office-door, Mr. Cole's carriage-horses returning from exercise, or a stray letter-boy on an obstinate mule, were the liveliest objects she could presume to expect; and when her eyes fell only on the butcher with his tray, a tidy old woman travelling homewards from shop with her full basket, two curs quarrelling over a dirty bone, and a string of dawdling children round the baker's little bow-window eyeing the gingerbread, she knew she had no reason to complain, and was amused enough; quite enough still to stand at the door.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

What! shall two grown men carry malice for years, and fly like snarling curs at each other's throats?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“You were always a cur and a traitor, Mark Shaw,” cried Aylward.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now into the stream—right in, over ankles, to throw the dog off, though I think it is but a common cur, like its master.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is a fool's plan to teach a man to be a cur in peace, and think that he will be a lion in war.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)