Curdle vs Curtail - What's the difference?
curdle | curtail |
(ambitransitive) To form curds so that it no longer flows smoothly; to cause to form such curds. (usually said of milk)
(ambitransitive) To clot or coagulate; to cause to congeal, such as through cold. (metaphorically of blood)
* 1814, Sir Walter Scott, Waverley
To cause a liquid to spoil and form clumps so that it no longer flows smoothly
* 1836, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers
(obsolete) To cut short the tail of an animal
To shorten or abridge the duration of something; to truncate.
(figuratively) To limit or restrict, keep in check.
* Macaulay
In lang=en terms the difference between curdle and curtail
is that curdle is to cause a liquid to spoil and form clumps so that it no longer flows smoothly while curtail is to shorten or abridge the duration of something; to truncate.As verbs the difference between curdle and curtail
is that curdle is (ambitransitive) to form curds so that it no longer flows smoothly; to cause to form such curds (usually said of milk) while curtail is (obsolete) to cut short the tail of an animal.As a noun curtail is
(architecture) a scroll termination, as of a step, etc.curdle
English
Verb
(curdl)- Too much lemon will curdle the milk in your tea.
- "Vich Ian Vohr," it said, in a voice that made my very blood curdle , "beware of to-morrow!"
- It is enough,' said the agitated Mr. Slurk, pacing to and fro, 'to curdle the ink in one's pen, and induce one to abandon their cause for ever.'
Derived terms
* curdledAnagrams
*curtail
English
Verb
(en verb)- ''Curtailing horses procured long horse-hair.
- When the audience grew restless, the speaker curtailed her speech.
- Their efforts to curtail spending didn't quite succeed.
- Our incomes have been curtailed ; his salary has been doubled.
