curry
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
curry1
▶noun (pl. curries) a dish of meat, vegetables, etc., cooked in an Indian-style sauce of strong spices. ▶verb (curries, currying, curried) (usu. as adj. curried) prepare or flavour with such a sauce.
– origin C16: from Tamil kaṟi.
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
curry2
▶verb (curries, currying, curried)
- 1 chiefly N. Amer. groom (a horse) with a curry comb.
- 2 historical treat (tanned leather) to improve its properties.
– phrases
curry favour ingratiate oneself with someone by obsequious behaviour.
curry favour ingratiate oneself with someone by obsequious behaviour.
– origin ME: from OFr. correier, ult. of Gmc origin.
word history: The rather odd phrase curry favour is an alteration of Middle English curry favel, which comes from Old French correier ‘to groom’ and the name of a chestnut horse Favel, or Fauvel, in a 14th-century French romance. This horse was a symbol of cunning and duplicity; hence ‘to curry (or rub down) Favel’ meant to use the cunning which he personified.
'curry' also found in these Oxford entries:
bhuna
- brown-nose
- coronation chicken
- curry comb
- curry leaf
- curry plant
- curry powder
- korma
- laksa
- madras
- vindaloo
