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Wavy vs Curl - What's the difference?

wavy | curl |

As nouns the difference between wavy and curl

is that wavy is (goose) while curl is a piece or lock of curling hair; a ringlet.

As an adjective wavy

is rising or swelling in waves.

As a verb curl is

(lb) to cause to move in a curve.

wavy

English

Etymology 1

Adjective

(er)
  • Rising or swelling in waves.
  • Full of waves.
  • Moving to and fro; undulating.
  • Having wave-like shapes on its border or surface; waved.
  • (botany, of a margin) Moving up and down relative to the surface; undulate.
  • (heraldry) , in a wavy line; applied to ordinaries, or division lines.
  • Etymology 2

    See wavey .

    Noun

    (wavies)
  • (goose).
  • * 1862 , in The Zoologist: a popular miscellany of natural history , volume 20, page 7835:
  • According to Indian report, a great breeding-ground for the blue wavy is the country lying in the interior of the north-east point of Labrador, Cape Dudley Digges.
  • * 1888 , in the Journals of the Senate of Canada , volume 22, Appendix 1, page 237:
  • The blue and white wavies breed in the barren grounds and feed chiefly on berries.

    curl

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A piece or lock of curling hair; a ringlet.
  • * 1866 , (Louisa May Alcott), , chapter 7:
  • she took it down, looked long and fondly at it, then, shaking her curls about her face, as if to hide the act, pressed it to her lips and seemed to weep over it in an uncontrollable paroxysm of tender grief.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1910, author=(Emerson Hough)
  • , title= The Purchase Price, chapter=1 , passage=Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=17 citation , passage=The face which emerged was not reassuring. […]. He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls .}}
  • A curved stroke or shape.
  • * 1995 , John Curtis, Julian Reade, & Dominique Collon, Art and Empire: Treasures from Assyria in the British Museum? , page 184:
  • the backs of their necks and their forelegs are decorated with curls and their necks and bodies are covered with fine, undulating lines.
  • A spin making the trajectory of an object curve.
  • * 1909 , Harold Horsfall Hilton, The Six Handicap Golfer's Companion [http://books.google.com/books?id=fZ0XAAAAYAAJ], page 38:
  • It is possible to use the wind which blows from the left to the right by playing well into the wind with the slightest bit of curl on the ball […]
  • (curling) Movement of a moving rock away from a straight line.
  • (weightlifting) Any exercise performed by bending the arm, wrist, or leg on the exertion against resistance, especially those that train the biceps.
  • * 2007 (Jan/Feb), Jon Crosby, "Your Winter Muscle Makeover", Men's Health , page 54:
  • Now do a curl and an overhead press, keeping your palms facing in.
  • (calculus) The vector field denoting the rotationality of a given vector field.
  • * 1995 , Erich Prisner, Graph dynamics :
  • In 2D, when Q is a polygonal domain, the singularities of Type (2) disappear because ?'' is the scalar curl''' of ''u'' and is such that its vectorial ' curl is zero.
  • (calculus, proper noun) The vector operator, denoted \rm{curl}\; or \vec{\nabla}\times\vec{\left(\cdot\right)}, that generates this field.
  • (agriculture) Any of various diseases of plants causing the leaves or shoots to curl up; often specifically the potato curl.
  • * 1840 , "Farmers' Department", The Family Magazine , volume 1, page 227:
  • These potatoes, however, planted the next year, have a fair yield, untouched by the curl .
  • (music, chiefly, lutherie) The contrasting light and dark figure seen in wood used for stringed instrument making; the flame.
  • Synonyms

    * (lock of curling hair) ringlet * (curved stroke or shape) curlicue, curve, flourish, loop, spiral

    Antonyms

    * (weightlifting exercise) extension

    Derived terms

    * barbell curl * biceps curl * cable curl * concentration curl * curlicue * curliness * curly * dumbbell curl * hammer curl * high-cable curl * leaf curl * leg curl * machine curl * preacher curl * reverse curl * scalar curl * trunk curl * wrist curl * Zottman curl

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (lb) To cause to move in a curve.
  • *1998 , Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch? , p.70:
  • *:He picked the ball up about forty yards out on the left wing, left a trail of Arsenal defenders in his wake, and curled the ball round Geoff Barnett as he came right out into the far corner.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=January 12, author=Saj Chowdhury, work=BBC
  • , title= Liverpool 2-1 Liverpool , passage=Campbell should have scored but missed with a header from four yards at the far post before Taylor-Fletcher came close to adding a second when he curled an effort over the stranded Reina, who should have been punished for a poor clearance.}}
  • To make into a curl or spiral.
  • *2004 , Jacquelyn Mitchard, Twelve Times Blessed? , p.249:
  • *:She curls her spine; she wedges a pillow between her knees.
  • (lb) To assume the shape of a curl or spiral.
  • *1847 , , ? , Ch.XXXI:
  • *:It seemed to me that Mr. St. John's under lip protruded, and his upper lip curled a moment.
  • (lb) To move in curves.
  • *1977 , (w, Scott O'Dell), Carlota? , p.1:
  • *:Clouds curled down from the mountains.
  • *2007 , John Coyne, The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan? , p.97:
  • *:The ball curled to a stop within six inches of the hole.
  • To take part in the sport of curling.
  • :
  • To exercise by bending the arm, wrist, or leg on the exertion against resistance, especially of the biceps.
  • *2008 , Joseph Lee Klapper, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Boosting Your Metabolism? , p.119:
  • *:When curling the weight, bring the barbell up toward the chin, then return it to its starting position. Keep your elbows and upper arms as immobile as possible to isolate the biceps.
  • To twist or form (the hair, etc.) into ringlets.
  • *(George Gascoigne) (c.1535-1577)
  • *:Curl their locks with bodkins and with braid.
  • *
  • *:There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled , frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs;.
  • To deck with, or as if with, curls; to ornament.
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:Thicker than the snaky locks / That curled Megaera.
  • *(George Herbert) (1593-1633)
  • *:Curling with metaphors a plain intention.
  • To raise in waves or undulations; to ripple.
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:Seas would be pools without the brushing air / To curl the waves.
  • (lb) To shape (the brim of a hat) into a curve.
  • Synonyms

    * (to make into a curl or spiral) arch, coil, roll up * (to assume the shape of a curl or spiral) coil, roll up * (to move in curves) curve, spiral

    Antonyms

    * (to make into a curl or spiral) straighten, uncoil, unroll * (to assume the shape of a curl or spiral) straighten, uncoil, unroll

    Derived terms

    * curled * curler * curl up * curl someone's hair * curling * curling iron * curling tongs

    See also

    * coil