cures

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of cure.

   The new treatment cures the infection without harsh side effects.

   Slow smoking cures the ham and gives it a rich flavor.

   Note

   Spelled exactly like the plural noun, this form is told apart by its slot. After a singular subject it is the verb (salt cures the fish); after a number or determiner it is the noun (two cures). Its object can be the patient, the illness, a defect (it cures him of stammering) or food being preserved. Occasionally it stands alone and simply means that something heals.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of cure.

   Researchers tested dozens of potential cures before finding one that worked.

   Traditional healers offered cures for ailments that puzzled the village doctor.

   Note

   The plural carries every countable meaning of cure, not only the medical one. Besides remedies and treatments, it can name solutions to problems in the figurative sense. It can also name the processes that preserve meat and fish or that harden and gel a material, so a smokehouse may use several cures. Medically, the usual pattern is cures for an ailment, while a clinic's recorded cures counts acts of healing.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2