To curry favor

To curry favor
Curry Cur"ry (k?r"r?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Curried} (-r?d); p. pr. & vb. n. {Currying}.] [OE. curraien, curreien, OF. cunreer, correier, to prepare, arrange, furnish, curry (a horse), F. corroyer to curry (leather) (cf. OF. conrei, conroi, order, arrangement, LL. conredium); cor- (L.com-) + roi, rei, arrangement, order; prob. of German origin, and akin to E. ready. See {Ready}, {Greith}, and cf. {Corody}, {Array}.] 1. To dress or prepare for use by a process of scraping, cleansing, beating, smoothing, and coloring; -- said of leather. [1913 Webster]

2. To dress the hair or coat of (a horse, ox, or the like) with a currycomb and brush; to comb, as a horse, in order to make clean. [1913 Webster]

Your short horse is soon curried. --Beau. & FL. [1913 Webster]

3. To beat or bruise; to drub; -- said of persons. [1913 Webster]

I have seen him curry a fellow's carcass handsomely. --Beau. & FL. [1913 Webster]

{To curry favor}, to seek to gain favor by flattery or attentions. See {Favor}, n. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • curry favor with someone — curry favor (with (someone)) to try to make someone like you or support you by doing or saying things to please them. The candidate has promised lower taxes in an attempt to curry favor with the voters. Etymology: from the literal meaning of… …   New idioms dictionary

  • curry favor with — curry favor (with (someone)) to try to make someone like you or support you by doing or saying things to please them. The candidate has promised lower taxes in an attempt to curry favor with the voters. Etymology: from the literal meaning of… …   New idioms dictionary

  • curry favor — (with (someone)) to try to make someone like you or support you by doing or saying things to please them. The candidate has promised lower taxes in an attempt to curry favor with the voters. Etymology: from the literal meaning of curry (= to… …   New idioms dictionary

  • curry favor — (v.) early 16c., altered by folk etymology from curry favel (c.1400) from O.Fr. correier fauvel to be false, hypocritical, lit. to curry the chestnut horse, which in medieval French allegories was a symbol of cunning and deceit. See CURRY (Cf.… …   Etymology dictionary

  • curry favor — verb seek favor by fawning or flattery This employee is currying favor with his superordinates • Syn: ↑curry favour, ↑court favor, ↑court favour • Hypernyms: ↑fawn, ↑toady, ↑truckle …   Useful english dictionary

  • curry favor — {v.} To flatter or serve someone to get his help or friendship. * /Joe tried to curry favor with the new teacher by doing little services that she didn t really want./ * /Jim tried to curry favor with the new girl by telling her she was the… …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • curry favor — {v.} To flatter or serve someone to get his help or friendship. * /Joe tried to curry favor with the new teacher by doing little services that she didn t really want./ * /Jim tried to curry favor with the new girl by telling her she was the… …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • curry\ favor — v To flatter or serve someone to get his help or friendship. Joe tried to curry favor with the new teacher by doing little services that she didn t really want. Jim tried to curry favor with the new girl by telling her she was the prettiest girl… …   Словарь американских идиом

  • curry favor — (Roget s 3 Superthesaurus) (VOCABULARY WORD) v. to try to win someone over through flattery. I was sickened by his attempts to curry favor with the governor. SYN.: flatter, fawn over, stroke, *kiss up to, *brownnose, *bootlick, praise, *fall all… …   English dictionary for students

  • curry favor — flatter someone to get his help or friendship He has been working hard to curry favor with the other members of the committee …   Idioms and examples

  • To curry favor — favor fa vor (f[=a] v[ e]r), n. [Written also favour.] [OF. favor, F. faveur, L. favor, fr. favere to be favorable, cf. Skr. bh[=a]vaya to further, foster, causative of bh[=u] to become, be. Cf. {Be}. In the phrase to curry favor, favor is prob.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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