- curl
- {{Roman}}I.{{/Roman}} noun1 piece of hairADJECTIVE▪ natural▪ loose, soft, wavy▪ tight▪ little▪ thick▪ long▪ corkscrew, spiral▪ auburn, blonde, dark, etc.▪ slight▪
His hair had a slight curl to it.
▪ stray▪She pushed a stray curl away from her eyes.
▪ tangled, unruly, untamed▪She smoothed down her tangled curls.
▪ dampVERB + CURL▪ have▪She has beautiful blonde curls.
▪ press back, push back, smooth back, stroke back▪ smooth down▪ ruffle, run your fingers through▪ tease▪He carefully teased his curls into place.
▪ shake▪She shook her dark curls sadly.
▪ brushCURL + VERB▪ fall, tumble▪Her auburn curls tumbled about her face.
▪ hang▪ bounce▪ frame sth▪Her face was framed by a mop of black curls.
PREPOSITION▪ in curls▪His hair spilled in curls over his forehead.
▪ through the/your curls▪She raked a comb through her curls.
PHRASES▪ a cascade of curls, a mass of curls, a 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 shapeADJECTIVE▪ faint▪He acknowledged her remark with a faint curl of his lips.
PREPOSITION▪ curl of▪{{Roman}}II.{{/Roman}}a curl of smoke
verbADVERB▪ tightly▪ slightly▪ back, up▪She curled her legs up under her.
PREPOSITION▪ around, round (esp. BrE)▪His fingers curled tightly around the steering wheel.
▪ from▪Smoke was curling up from the chimney.
▪ into▪The cat curled into a ball and fell asleep.
PHRASES▪ curled up▪She was lying curled up on her bed.
▪ curl (up) at the edges▪The photograph was brown and curling at the edges.
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
