curl noun
1 piece of hair
ADJ. natural | soft | tight | corkscrew, spiral | auburn, blonde, dark, etc. | natural | stray She pushed a stray curl away from her eyes. | tangled, tumbling, unruly, untamed, wayward She smoothed down her tangled curls. | damp
VERB + CURL press/push/stroke back, smooth back/down | ruffle, run your fingers through | tease He carefully teased his curls into place. | shake She shook her dark curls sadly.
CURL + VERB fall, tumble Her auburn curls tumbled about her face. | bounce | frame sth Her face was framed by a mop of black curls.
PREP. in ~s His hair spilled in curls over his forehead. | through the/your ~s She raked a comb through her wayward curls.
PHRASES a cascade/mass/mop of curls Her hair was styled into a cascade of spiral curls. | lose its curl Her hair lost its curl as she got older.
2 sth with a curved round shape
ADJ. faint, little, slight He acknowledged her remark with a faint curl of his lips.
PREP. ~ of a curl of smoke
curl verb
ADV. tightly | slightly | up She curled her legs up under her.
PREP. around/round His fingers curled tightly round the steering wheel. | from Smoke was curling up from the chimney. | into The cat curled into a ball and fell asleep.
PHRASES be/lie/sit curled up She was lying curled up on her bed. | curl (up) at the edges The photograph was brown and curling at the edges.
You can also check other dicts: curl (English, 中文解释 ), wordnet sense, Collins Definition