I. ˈkyu̇(ə)r, -u̇ə noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English (also, care), from Old French, from Medieval Latin & Latin; Medieval Latin cura cure of souls, from Latin, care, medical attendance, healing; akin to Old Latin coiraveront they cared for, Paelignian coisatens, and perhaps to Gothic us haista needy
1.
a. : spiritual charge of a parish : the office of a parish priest or of a curate
b. : curacy , parish
2.
a. obsolete : a medical course of treatment for a bodily ailment — used without implication of success
b. : recovery from a disease
his cure was complete
also : remission of signs or symptoms of a disease
clinical cure
especially during a prolonged period of observation
5-year cure of cancer
: return to freedom from an infecting agent
biologic cure of typhoid
— compare arrest , quiescence , remission
c. : a drug, treatment, regimen, or other agency that cures a disease
water cure
quinine is a cure for malaria
d. : a course or period of treatment ; especially : one designed to interrupt an addiction or compulsive habit
take a cure for alcoholism
or to improve general health
an annual cure at a spa
e. : spa
one of the fashionable cures
3. : remedy : a procedure or agency that heals or permanently alleviates a troublesome or harmful situation
the attractively plausible idea that the cure for negative attitudes and misinformation is information — W.H.Whyte
4. : a process or method involving aging, seasoning, washing, drying, heating, smoking, or otherwise treating whereby a product is preserved, perfected, or readied for use
5. maritime law : the medical care awarded a merchant seaman injured or taken sick in the course of his duties
Synonyms: see remedy
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English curen to take care of, heal, from Middle French curer to take care of, heal, cleanse, from Latin curare to take care of, heal, from cura, n.
transitive verb
1. : heal
a. : to restore to health, soundness, or normality
cure him of his illness
curing his patients rapidly by new procedures
a child cured of lisping
b. : to bring about recovery from : remedy
any physician can cure a clean wound
antibiotics cure many formerly intractable infections
2.
a. : to treat so as to remove, eliminate, or rectify
every fact you learn cures ignorance or confusion — J.M.Barzun
no amount of sweeping and clean mats could cure the bedbugs
b. : to free or relieve (a person) from an objectionable or harmful condition or inclination
the loss cured him of his gambling
a rebuff that cured him of his brash aggressiveness
3. : to subject to a preservative process
cure meat by salting
drying the hay to cure it
curing tobacco by aging it
: perfect by chemical change (as rubber by vulcanizing, plastics by treating with heat or chemicals to make them infusible and insoluble, or green concrete by maintaining proper conditions of moisture and temperature)
4. : to clear (land) for cultivation or other use
5. : to make acceptable in legal procedure (the appearance of objectionable evidence, the omission of relevant matter, or supposed error in charging the jury) by admission of certain evidence giving charges considered under the law to nullify any effect prejudicial to the appellant that any defective evidence or charges might have
intransitive verb
1. of a product : to undergo a preservative process
2.
a. : to effect a cure
careful living cures more often than it kills
b. : to take a cure (as in a sanatorium or at a spa)
Synonyms:
heal , remedy : cure and heal may apply, literally and often interchangeably, to wounds or diseases
mind and will are so powerful they can heal the sick — C.A.Dial
cure , however, more commonly applies to restoration of a healthy or normal condition of body or organism
cure a headache
cure a cold
heal commonly applies to restoration to soundness of an affected part after a wound or lesion
heal an open sore
heal a cut in the hand
Figuratively, one cures a bad condition of things, but heals a breach as in human relations
cure him of his faults — Douglas Stewart
went far toward curing the cynicism of youth — Dixon Wecter
half a century's estrangement between the farmers and the townsmen may yet be healed — Roy Lewis & Angus Maude
heal a split in his own Liberal Party — Time
remedy applies to the use of any means of correction or relief of a morbid or evil condition
remedy the common cold
anxieties would be remedied — J.A.Pike
remedy the breakdown of international prestige — Max Ascoli
the theory that better religion, better houses, or larger prisons can remedy the badly functioning brain — Atlantic