curry

Less common meanings

6. 6
   groom horseverbtransitive

   To groom a horse, dressing or rubbing it down with a curry comb.

   She curried the gelding's flanks with slow, circular strokes.

   Riders are taught to curry their mounts before saddling them.

   Similargroom, brush

   Note

   A stable word with a history separate from the spice. The curry comb is its tool. John Fletcher's "Your short horse is soon curried" and Joseph C. Lincoln's "I was currying the horse" (1913) show the same plain transitive use three centuries apart. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 7 facts

   • The grooming verb has a different origin from the culinary word. en.wiktionary.org
   • A curry comb is used to groom a horse. en.wiktionary.org
   • The quoted horse line occurs in John Fletcher's writing. gutenberg.org
   • The quoted grooming sentence occurs in Joseph C. Lincoln's writing. home.hiwaay.net
   • The Lincoln quotation belongs to a book first published in 1913. upload.wikimedia.org
   • Fletcher's line is proverbial: Maximus comments on Chilax losing his horse at dice. Lincoln's narrator describes literal grooming. Both involve a transitive verb, but their contextual uses differ. gutenberg.org
   • Their first publication years are 1647 and 1913, an interval of 266 years. The earlier 1610–1614 dating concerns composition, not first publication. en.wikipedia.org
7. 7
   prepare leatherverbtransitive

   To work tanned leather into its finished state by beating, rubbing, and scraping it and adding color.

   He curried the calfskin carefully to give it a smooth, supple finish.

   Craftsmen would curry the hides for days before the leather was ready.

   Similardress

8. 8
   racial insultnounderogatoryethnicoffensiveslurcountable or uncountable

   A derogatory slur for a person of South Asian heritage.

   Anonymous accounts bombarded the cricketer with messages branding him a curry.

   He grew used to being called a curry by online bigots throughout his career.

   UsageUse it only when quoting or discussing it, never to refer to anyone.

   Note

   An ethnic slur common on incel forums, where it sits beside coinages like sandcel and foid. It has been in circulation there since at least 2020. It borrows its form from the name of the dish, and that is the insult. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The slur was circulating on incel forums by 2020 alongside sandcel and foid. en.wiktionary.org
   • The slur derives from the food name. researchgate.net
9. 9
   verbobsoleteintransitive

   To move or travel in haste, or to make someone or something hurry along.

   Note

   This is a verb of motion, and it has nothing to do with the dish or the horse-comb that share its spelling. It may come from currier, a common sixteenth- to eighteenth-century form of courier, so to curry was to ride post like a messenger; scurry may have helped shape it. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The motion verb has a separate etymology from the culinary and grooming words; it may derive from currier, a common sixteenth- to eighteenth-century form of courier, with the sense of riding post. en.wiktionary.org
   • Scurry may have influenced the verb. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To travel over a distance, or, of a missile, to fly the full length of its range.

    I am not hee that can ... by midnight leape my horse, curry seauen miles.

    1608, George Chapman, The Conspiracie

    All these shots shall curry or finish their ranges in times equal to each other.

    1662, Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (Dialogue Two)

    Note

    The transitive partner of the "ride in haste" verb, with the distance as its object. In George Chapman's Byron's Conspiracy (1608), the Duke of Savoy denies being a soldier who could "curry seven miles" in a night. In Thomas Salusbury's 1661 translation of Galileo's Dialogue, shots "curry or finish their ranges." That pairing with finish shows the sense: to run a course all the way to its end. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • This is the transitive distance-covering sense corresponding to the intransitive sense ‘ride or run hastily’. en.wiktionary.org
    • George Chapman wrote Byron’s Conspiracy, first published in 1608. emed.folger.edu
    • The Duke of Savoy says that he cannot perform the soldier’s overnight exploits described, including ‘curry seven miles’. poetryexplorer.net
    • Thomas Salusbury’s translation of Galileo’s Dialogue appeared in 1661. en.wikisource.org
    • The translation contains the quoted pairing of ‘curry’ with ‘finish’ concerning shots completing their ranges. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    verb

    To transform a function that takes multiple arguments into a series of functions that each take a single argument.
12. 12
    verbarchaic

    To beat, thrash, or drub someone.

    I have seen him curry a fellow's carcase handsomely.

    c. 1619, John Fletcher, “The Island Princesse”