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Alice in Wonderland vocabulary
39 vocabulary words, including people, places, music, artists, etc.
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cur
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synonyms: blackguard, knave, varlet, poltroon, losel, blighter, villiago, human paraquat ???
► definition
Definition:A cut or curtailed dog. According to the forest laws, a man who had no right to the privilege of the chase, was obliged to cut or law his dog: among other modes of disabling him from disturbing the game, one was by depriving him of his tail: a dog so cut was called a cut or curtailed dog, and by contraction a cur. A cur is figuratively used to signify a surly fellow.Francis Grose. 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.
► uses
Uses:
"You manage your composure too awkwardly. I see you wish to insult me," he cried to Gania. "You— you are a cur!" He looked at Gania with an expression of malice.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The Idiot (1887)
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I had ceased to be Humbert the Hound, the sad-eyed degenerate cur clasping the boot that would presently kick him away.
Vladimir Nabokov. Lolita
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Said the
mouse to the
cur, "Such
a trial,
dear Sir,
With
no jury
or judge,
would be
wasting
our
breath."
Lewis Carroll. Alice in Wonderland (1865)
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