• Curry, John Anthony (British figure skater)

    John Curry was an English figure skater who redefined the sport with his elegant balletic style. Known as “the Nureyev of the ice,” he won the gold medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria. (Read Scott Hamilton’s Britannica entry on figure skating.) Curry had an early interest in

  • Curry, John Steuart (American painter)

    John Steuart Curry was an American painter whose art reflects the social attitudes of the 1930s. Curry studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design and the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1918 he started his artistic career as an illustrator of pulp magazines, particularly westerns.

  • Curry, Kid (American outlaw)

    Kid Curry was an American gunslinger who became notorious as the most quick-tempered killer of the Wild Bunch, a group of Western outlaws. His brothers, Lonny and Johnny, also gained reputations as Western badmen, as did their uncle, George Sutherland (“Flat Nose”) Curry. Kid Curry, primarily a

  • Curry, Michael Bruce (American bishop)

    Prince Harry, duke of Sussex: Marriage to Meghan Markle: …power of love, delivered by Michael Bruce Curry, the first African American presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church.

  • Curry, Steph (American basketball player)

    Stephen Curry is an American professional basketball player who led the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to championships in 2014–15, 2016–17, 2017–18, and 2021–22 and to the best regular-season record in league history (73–9) in 2015–16. Curry grew up immersed in

  • Curry, Stephen (American basketball player)

    Stephen Curry is an American professional basketball player who led the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to championships in 2014–15, 2016–17, 2017–18, and 2021–22 and to the best regular-season record in league history (73–9) in 2015–16. Curry grew up immersed in

  • Curry, Wardell Stephen, II (American basketball player)

    Stephen Curry is an American professional basketball player who led the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to championships in 2014–15, 2016–17, 2017–18, and 2021–22 and to the best regular-season record in league history (73–9) in 2015–16. Curry grew up immersed in

  • curse (magic)

    Roman religion: Purpose of sacrifice and magic: Among them curses figured prominently, and curse inscriptions from c. 500 bce onward have been found in large numbers. There were also numerous survivals of taboo, a negative branch of magic: people were admonished to have no dealings with strangers, corpses, newborn children, spots struck by lightning,…

  • curse of Artemisia (manuscript)

    calligraphy: Ptolemaic period: …350–330 bce) or in the curse of Artemisia in Vienna (4th century bce), the writing is cruder, and ω is in transition to what is afterward its invariable written form. Similar features can be seen in the earliest precisely dated document, a marriage contract of 311 bce. It has been…

  • Curse of Blondie, The (album by Blondie)

    Blondie: The band’s later albums include The Curse of Blondie (2004), Panic of Girls (2011), and Pollinator (2017). In 2006 the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2024 the U.S. Library of Congress added Parallel Lines to the National Recording Registry, a list of audio…

  • Curse of Frankenstein, The (film by Fisher [1957])

    Hammer Films: Lee played the Creature in The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and became an international star when he portrayed the title character in Dracula the following year. He went on to play Count Dracula six more times for Hammer and appeared in numerous other productions, including the studio’s last horror film,…

  • Curse of the Demon (film by Tourneur [1957])

    Jacques Tourneur: Later films: Stars in My Crown, Nightfall, and Curse of the Demon: …the Demon (1957; also called Curse of the Demon), a superb adaptation of M.R. James’s supernatural story “Casting the Runes,” starring Dana Andrews. In The Fearmakers (1958) an adman (Andrews) returns from the Korean War to find that his firm has been taken over by communists, and in Timbuktu (1959)…

  • Curse of the Mekons (album by the Mekons)

    the Mekons: (1985), The Mekons Rock’n’Roll (1989), Curse of the Mekons (1991), and I Love Mekons (1993), featuring songs informed by leftist political sentiments and laced with sardonic humour. The Mekons (some of whom relocated to the United States) continued to record and perform into the 21st century, making them one of…

  • Curse of the Pink Panther (film by Edwards [1983])

    Blake Edwards: Later films: …the Pink Panther (1982) and Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), both of which suffered badly from the absence of the recently deceased Sellers. A 1983 remake of François Truffaut’s The Man Who Loved Women with Andrews and Burt Reynolds in the lead roles, Micki & Maude (1984), with Moore…

  • Curse of the Starving Class (play by Shepard)

    American literature: The Off-Broadway ascendancy: …with fierce family conflict, including Curse of the Starving Class (1976), True West (1980), Fool for Love (1983), and A Lie of the Mind (1986).

  • Cursed (film by Craven [2005])

    Wes Craven: His later films included Cursed (2005), a foray into the werewolf genre; the thriller Red Eye (2005); and the slasher movie My Soul to Take (2010), which was shown in 3-D.

  • cursillo (Roman Catholicism)

    cursillo, in Roman Catholicism, a three-day period of spiritual renewal stressing the dynamic, communitarian, and personalistic aspects of the Christian faith. The cursillo de cristianidad (Spanish: “little course in Christianity”), founded in 1949 by layman Eduardo Bonnín, Father Sebastián Gayá,

  • cursing (language)

    profanity, language that is considered socially offensive due to being vulgar, obscene, or irreverent. The term profanity is often used in a religious sense to refer to language that is blasphemous, sacrilegious, or sometimes merely secular. In a broader sense, profanity is often referred to as

  • cursive (handwriting)

    cursive, style of handwriting distinguished by rounded shapes in a word and, frequently, connection of characters. Cursive style allows the pen to flow in continuous strokes, accelerating the handwriting speed of a practiced hand. Though modern cursive is often associated with languages that use

  • cursive minuscule (calligraphy)

    calligraphy: Uncials, half uncials, and cursive minuscule: …uncials, although the frequency in cursive minuscule of ligatures between letters tends to conceal the fundamental likeness between the two hands.

  • cursive script (writing system)

    calligraphy: Origins to the 8th century ce: …this writing is often termed cursive. Scribes also made frequent use of abbreviations. When the scribe was skillful in reconciling clarity and speed, such writing may have much character, even beauty; but it often degenerates into a formless, sometimes indecipherable, scrawl.

  • cursorial locomotion (locomotion)

    dog: Skeletal structure: Dogs are running animals, with the exception of those bred specifically for different purposes. For instance, the bulldog, with its large head and short, “bowed” legs, cannot be called a creature born to chase game. Most dogs, however, are well equipped to run or lope over long…

  • Cursoriinae (bird)

    courser, any of 9 or 10 species of Old World shorebirds belonging to the family Glareolidae (order Charadriiformes), which also includes the pratincoles. Most live in semideserts, where they chase insects afoot; they can, however, fly strongly with their short wings. The best-known species is the

  • Cursorius coromandelicus (bird)

    courser: The Indian courser (C. coromandelicus) is brown with a strong face pattern. The bronze-winged courser (Rhinoptilus chalcopterus), largest of several species in sub-Saharan Africa, frequents woodlands and is chiefly nocturnal. It is about 30 cm (12 inches) long.

  • Cursorius cursor (bird)

    courser: The best-known species is the cream-coloured courser (Cursorius cursor) of Africa, a pale-brown bird with white underparts, bold eye stripes, and black wing tips. The Indian courser (C. coromandelicus) is brown with a strong face pattern. The bronze-winged courser (Rhinoptilus chalcopterus), largest of several species in sub-Saharan Africa, frequents woodlands…

  • cursus honorum (Roman government)

    ancient Rome: Citizenship and politics in the middle republic: …moved swiftly through the senatorial cursus honorum (“course of honors”) to win the consulship and command against Philip V at the age of 30. Such cases prompted laws to regulate the senatorial cursus: iteration in the same magistracy was prohibited, the praetorship was made a prerequisite for the consulship, and…

  • Cursus Philosophicus (work by John of Saint Thomas)

    John of Saint Thomas: …his principal works are the Cursus Philosophicus, 9 vol. (1632–36; “Course in Philosophy”) and the Cursus Theologicus, 7 vol. (1637–44; “Course in Theology”), explicating questions on major speculative themes such as the nature of theology and divine revelation, the demonstrability of God’s existence, human freedom, and the rationale for morality,…

  • cursus publicus (Roman postal system)

    postal system: Message-relay systems of the ancient world: …need was met by the cursus publicus, the most highly developed postal system of the ancient world. The relay stages of the cursus publicus, established at convenient intervals along the great roads of the empire, formed an integral part of its complex military and administrative system. The speed with which…

  • cursus rapidi (Roman transportation)

    road: The Roman roads: …divided into two classes: (1) cursus rapidi, the express service, and (2) agnarie, the freight service. In addition, there was an enormous amount of travel by private individuals. The two most widely used vehicles were the two-wheeled chariot drawn by two or four horses and its companion, the cart used…

  • Cursus Theologicus (work of John of Saint Thomas)

    John of Saint Thomas: …“Course in Philosophy”) and the Cursus Theologicus, 7 vol. (1637–44; “Course in Theology”), explicating questions on major speculative themes such as the nature of theology and divine revelation, the demonstrability of God’s existence, human freedom, and the rationale for morality, Christian worship, and the church. The Cursus Philosophicus includes an…

  • curtain (interior decoration)

    curtain, in interior design, decorative fabric commonly hung to regulate the admission of light at windows and to prevent drafts from door or window openings. Curtains, usually of a heavy material, arranged to fall straight in ornamental folds are also called draperies. Portieres are heavy curtains

  • Curtain Call: The Hits (album by Eminem [2005])

    Eminem: … (2004) and a greatest-hits set, Curtain Call: The Hits (2005), both of which sold well but failed to garner as much attention as his previous albums had. He then stepped out of the public eye, resurfacing briefly in 2006 to eulogize friend and D12 member Proof, who was killed outside…

  • Curtain of Green, A (work by Welty)

    Eudora Welty: …steadily after the publication of A Curtain of Green (1941; enlarged 1979), a volume of short stories that contains two of her most anthologized stories—“The Petrified Man” and “Why I Live at the P.O.” In 1942 her short novel The Robber Bridegroom was issued, and in 1946 her first full-length…

  • Curtain Theatre (historical theater, London, United Kingdom)

    Curtain Theatre, playhouse opened in 1577 in Curtain Close, Finsbury Fields, Shoreditch. The Curtain was the second such public playhouse (after The Theatre) to be built in the London environs. Henry Lanman, who was the theatre’s manager from 1582 to 1592, may have been responsible for its

  • curtain wall (construction)

    curtain wall, Nonbearing wall of glass, metal, or masonry attached to a building’s exterior structural frame. After World War II, low energy costs gave impetus to the concept of the tall building as a glass prism, an idea originally put forth by Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in their

  • curtained platform (stage design)

    theatre: Staging conventions: …least is known, was the curtained platform. Toward the end of the Middle Ages itinerant professional actors who performed interludes required only a curtain behind them for staging.

  • curtal (musical instrument)

    curtal, Renaissance-era musical instrument and predecessor of the bassoon, with a double-back bore cut from a single piece of wood and built in sizes from treble to double bass (sometimes called the double curtal in England and the Choristfagott in Germany). The curtal was developed in the 16th

  • curtal (weapon)

    warship: Gun-armed warships: …or five short-barreled cannon, or curtals, a similar number of demicannon, and culverins. The average cannon, a short-range gun, hurled an iron ball of about 50 pounds (23 kg), and the demicannon one of 32 pounds (14 kg). The culverin, a longer and stronger gun, fired a smaller shot over…

  • curtal sonnet (literature)

    curtal sonnet, a curtailed or contracted sonnet. It refers specifically to a sonnet of 11 lines rhyming abcabc dcbdc or abcabc dbcdc with the last line a tail, or half a line. The term was used by Gerard Manley Hopkins to describe the form that he used in such poems as “Pied Beauty” and “Peace.”

  • curtall (musical instrument)

    curtal, Renaissance-era musical instrument and predecessor of the bassoon, with a double-back bore cut from a single piece of wood and built in sizes from treble to double bass (sometimes called the double curtal in England and the Choristfagott in Germany). The curtal was developed in the 16th

  • Curtea de Argeş (Romania)

    Curtea de Argeş, town, Argeş judeƫ (county), south-central Romania. It is on the Argeş River, at an elevation of 1,378 ft (420 m), on the southern slopes of the Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathians), about 80 mi (130 km) northwest of Bucharest. Curtea de Argeş succeeded Câmpulung as capital of

  • Curteen, Sir William (English merchant)

    Sir William Courteen was an English merchant and shipowner noted especially for his enterprises in the West Indies and the East Indies. The son of a Protestant refugee who had come to London in 1568, Courteen from an early age acted as the agent in Haarlem, Neth., for his father’s silk and linen

  • curtesy (law)

    inheritance: Limits on freedom of testation: …the widower was entitled to curtesy, a life rent in his wife’s heritage (i.e., immovable) property, and the widow had the right of terce—i.e., a life rent out of one-third of her husband’s inheritable estate. In England, freedom of testation, while unlimited by law, was kept within narrow limits by…

  • Curtin, Jane (American actress)

    Saturday Night Live: Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner. (This improvisation tradition also gave rise to Second City TV, which appeared first on Canadian television [1976–80] and then on NBC [1981–83], to the American Broadcasting Company’s Fridays [1980–82], and to the

  • Curtin, John (prime minister of Australia)

    John Curtin was a statesman, prime minister of Australia during most of World War II, and leader of the Australian Labor Party (1934–45). After involving himself in trade union and anticonscription activity in Melbourne (1911–15), Curtin became editor of a Perth newspaper, the Westralian Worker. In

  • Curtin, John Joseph (prime minister of Australia)

    John Curtin was a statesman, prime minister of Australia during most of World War II, and leader of the Australian Labor Party (1934–45). After involving himself in trade union and anticonscription activity in Melbourne (1911–15), Curtin became editor of a Perth newspaper, the Westralian Worker. In

  • Curtis (island, New Zealand)

    Kermadec Islands: Curtis and Macauley were discovered (1788) by the crew of the British ship “Lady Penrhyn.” The others were found (1793) by the French navigator Joseph d’Entrecasteaux, who named the entire group after one of his ships. The first Europeans who settled there (1837) sold garden…

  • curtis (dwelling)

    villa, country estate, complete with house, grounds, and subsidiary buildings. The term villa particularly applies to the suburban summer residences of the ancient Romans and their later Italian imitators. In Great Britain the word has come to mean a small detached or semidetached suburban home. In

  • Curtis Cup (golf trophy)

    Curtis Cup, golf trophy awarded since 1932 to the winner of a biennial amateur women’s match played between teams from Great Britain and the United States. The cup was donated by Harriot and Margaret Curtis, both winners of the U.S. women’s amateur championship in the early 1900s. Teams consist of

  • Curtis Institute of Music (school, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States)

    Curtis Institute of Music, private, coeducational conservatory of music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. The institute awards bachelor’s and master’s degrees. The curriculum covers composition, conducting, accompanying, music theory and history, and studies in voice and in keyboard and

  • Curtis Publishing Company (American publishing company)

    Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis: In 1890 Curtis organized the Curtis Publishing Company. Later acquisitions included The Saturday Evening Post (1897); The Country Gentleman (1911); the Philadelphia Public Ledger (1913), which he expanded to include the Evening Ledger (1914); the Philadelphia Press and The North American, morning newspapers that he merged with the Curtis papers…

  • Curtis, Ben (American golfer)

    British Open: History: …1999, David Duval in 2001, Ben Curtis in 2003, and Padraig Harrington in 2007.

  • Curtis, Benjamin R. (United States jurist)

    Benjamin R. Curtis was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court (1851–57). Curtis graduated from Harvard College, studied at the Harvard Law School, and took over the practice of a country attorney in Northfield, Massachusetts, in 1831. He quickly gained a reputation at the Boston

  • Curtis, Benjamin Robbins (United States jurist)

    Benjamin R. Curtis was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court (1851–57). Curtis graduated from Harvard College, studied at the Harvard Law School, and took over the practice of a country attorney in Northfield, Massachusetts, in 1831. He quickly gained a reputation at the Boston

  • Curtis, Charles (vice president of United States)

    Charles Curtis was the 31st vice president of the United States (1929–33) in the Republican administration of Pres. Herbert Hoover. The son of Orren Arms Curtis, a soldier, and Ellen Gonville Pappan, who was one-quarter Kansa Indian, Curtis spent his early youth with the Kaw Indian tribe. After

  • Curtis, Charles Gordon (American inventor)

    Charles Gordon Curtis was a U.S. inventor who devised a steam turbine widely used in electric power plants and in marine propulsion. He was a patent lawyer for eight years. The Curtis steam turbine was patented in 1896, and its principles are still used in large ocean liners and other naval

  • Curtis, Christopher Paul (American author)

    Christopher Paul Curtis is an American author of young people’s literature who received the 2000 Newbery Medal, awarded annually by the American Library Association (ALA) to the author of the most distinguished American work of children’s literature published in the previous year. Many of his books

  • Curtis, Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar (American publisher)

    Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis was a publisher who established a journalistic empire in Philadelphia. As early as 1863 Curtis began publishing in Portland a local weekly called Young America. When fire destroyed his plant, he moved to Boston, where he worked as a messenger, an advertising

  • Curtis, Edward S. (American photographer)

    Edward S. Curtis was an American photographer and chronicler of Native American peoples whose work perpetuated an influential image of Indians as a “vanishing race.” The monumental The North American Indian (1907–30), published under his name, constitutes a major compendium of photographic and

  • Curtis, Ellen Louise (American businesswoman)

    Ellen Louise Curtis Demorest was an American businesswoman, widely credited with the invention of the mass-produced paper pattern for clothing. Ellen Curtis graduated from Schuylerville Academy at age 18 and then opened a millinery shop. In 1858 she married William J. Demorest in New York City.

  • Curtis, Frank (American entrepreneur)

    automobile: The age of steam: Another American, Frank Curtis of Newburyport, Massachusetts, is remembered for building a personal steam carriage to the order of a Boston man who failed to meet the payment schedule, whereupon Curtis made the first recorded repossession of a motor vehicle.

  • Curtis, George William (American writer)

    George William Curtis was a U.S. author, editor, and leader in civil service reform. Early in life Curtis spent two years at the Brook Farm community and school, subsequently remaining near Concord, Mass., for a time, to continue his association with Emerson. Later he travelled in Europe, Egypt,

  • Curtis, Heber D. (American astronomer)

    universe: Shapley’s contributions: …was arranged between Shapley and Heber D. Curtis to discuss this issue before the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.

  • Curtis, Ian (British singer)

    Joy Division/New Order: The principal members were Ian Curtis (b. July 15, 1956, Macclesfield, Cheshire, England—d. May 18, 1980, Macclesfield), Bernard Albrecht (later Bernard Sumner; b. January 4, 1956, Salford, Manchester), Peter Hook (b. February 13, 1956, Manchester), Stephen Morris (b. October 28, 1957, Macclesfield), and Gillian Gilbert (b. January 27, 1961,…

  • Curtis, Jamie Lee (American actress)

    Jamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author who first rose to fame with a series of popular horror movies, most notably Halloween (1978) and its sequels, and who later found success with comedic and action roles. In 2023 she won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her

  • Curtis, John (British author and illustrator)

    origins of agriculture: Beginnings of pest control: …in a scientific way was John Curtis’s Farm Insects, published in 1860. Though farmers were well aware that insects caused losses, Curtis was the first writer to call attention to their significant economic impact. The successful battle for control of the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) of the western United…

  • Curtis, Ken (American actor)

    Gunsmoke: …replaced by Festus Haggen (Ken Curtis). Much of the series featured Dillon and his allies battling bandits, robbers, or other threats that blew in from the prairie. Most conflicts emanated from an outsider’s entering the small, tight-knit community and causing some form of tumult. True to its name, the…

  • Curtis, King (American musician)

    the Coasters: …and tenor saxophone solos by King Curtis, who played a crucial role in creating Atlantic’s rhythm-and-blues sound. With further personnel changes they continued performing in “oldies” shows into the 1990s. The Coasters were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

  • Curtis, Lionel George (British official)

    Lionel George Curtis was a British public administrator and author, advocate of British imperial federalism and of a world state, who had considerable influence on the development of the Commonwealth of Nations. After being educated at Haileybury College and at New College, Oxford, Curtis entered

  • Curtis, Philip C. (American artist)

    Philip C. Curtis was an American arts administrator and Surrealist artist whose paintings are characterized by dreamlike images, spaces, and juxtapositions. Curtis received a bachelor’s degree from Albion College in Albion, Michigan, in 1930. After attending law school at the University of

  • Curtis, Philip Campbell (American artist)

    Philip C. Curtis was an American arts administrator and Surrealist artist whose paintings are characterized by dreamlike images, spaces, and juxtapositions. Curtis received a bachelor’s degree from Albion College in Albion, Michigan, in 1930. After attending law school at the University of

  • Curtis, Samuel (United States military officer)

    Battle of Pea Ridge: …11,000 Union troops under General Samuel Curtis defeated 16,000 attacking Confederate troops led by Generals Earl Van Dorn, Sterling Price, and Ben McCulloch. Following a fierce opening assault from the rear that almost overwhelmed Curtis’s forces, the outnumbered Union troops rallied. After a desperate struggle with severe losses on both…

  • Curtis, Tony (American actor)

    Tony Curtis was an American actor whose handsome looks first propelled him to fame in the 1950s. He won critical plaudits as well as broad popularity in both dramatic roles and comic performances. Schwartz grew up in the Bronx, where he experienced a troubled home life and became a member of a

  • Curtisia (plant genus)

    Cornales: Other families: Curtisia has a single species of southern African tree that is useful as a timber source (assagai wood) for furniture and other small construction.

  • Curtisiaceae (plant family)

    Cornales: Other families: …single genus, are Grubbiaceae and Curtisiaceae. Grubbia (three species) is the single genus of Grubbiaceae and features heathlike shrubs in southern South Africa. Curtisia has a single species of southern African tree that is useful as a timber source (assagai wood) for furniture and other small construction.

  • Curtiss JN-4 (airplane)

    Glenn Hammond Curtiss: The Curtiss JN-4 (“Jenny”) was the standard training and general-purpose aircraft in American military service during the years prior to the U.S. entry into World War I. The NC-4, a multiengine Curtiss flying boat, made the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1919, opening the…

  • Curtiss Model E flying boat (airplane)

    Curtiss Model E flying boat, aircraft designed and built by American aeronautics pioneer Glenn Hammond Curtiss and first flown in 1912. Although the French aviation pioneer Henri Farman had flown off the water in 1910, the Curtiss Model E of 1912 was the first truly successful flying boat. (See

  • Curtiss NC-4 (airplane)

    David Watson Taylor: Navy, including the NC-4, first plane to fly the Atlantic (1919). He made many other contributions to aeronautics in 15 years of service on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

  • Curtiss, Glenn Hammond (American engineer)

    Glenn Hammond Curtiss was a pioneer aviator and leading American manufacturer of aircraft by the time of the United States’s entry into World War I. Curtiss began his career in the bicycle business, earning fame as one of the leading cycle racers in western New York state. Fascinated by speed, he

  • Curtius, Ernst (German archaeologist)

    Ernst Curtius was a German archaeologist and historian who directed the excavation of Olympia, the most opulent and sacred religious shrine of ancient Greece and site of the original Olympic Games. In addition to revealing the layout of this vast sanctuary, the excavation also unearthed the only

  • Curtius, Georg (German scholar)

    Georg Curtius was a German classicist and Indo-European language scholar, whose writings were fundamental to the study of the Greek language. He was the brother of the archaeologist Ernst Curtius. In 1845 Georg Curtius became a Privatdozent (student-paid lecturer) at Berlin and in that year

  • Curtius, Julius (German statesman)

    Julius Curtius was a German statesman and the foreign minister of the Weimar Republic (1929–31). Following the completion of his legal studies at Berlin, Curtius became a lawyer at Duisburg in 1905 but moved to Heidelberg in 1911. After distinguishing himself in World War I, he served until 1921 as

  • Curtius, Marcus (Roman hero)

    Marcus Curtius, a legendary hero of ancient Rome. According to legend, in 362 bc a deep chasm opened in the Roman Forum. The seers declared that the pit would never close until Rome’s most valuable possession was thrown into it. Claiming that nothing was more precious than a brave citizen, Curtius

  • Curtius, Quintus (Roman historian)

    ancient Iran: The nobles and the nomads: The Roman historian Quintus Curtius recounts Alexander’s meeting with a delegation of Scythians who gave him a warning. They told him,

  • Curtiz, Michael (Hungarian-American director, actor, and writer)

    Michael Curtiz was a Hungarian-born American motion-picture director whose prolific output as a contract director for Warner Brothers was composed of many solid but run-of-the-mill genre films along with a string of motion picture classics that included Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), Casablanca

  • Curtmantle, Henry (king of England)

    Henry II was the duke of Normandy (from 1150), count of Anjou (from 1151), duke of Aquitaine (from 1152), and king of England (from 1154), who greatly expanded his Anglo-French domains and strengthened the royal administration in England. His quarrels with Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury,

  • curtovirus (virus)

    curly top: The causal viruses are curtoviruses (family Geminiviridae) and are transmitted in North America, Europe, and Asia by the beet leafhopper (Circulifer tenullus) and in South America by Agalliana ensigera, which overwinter on wild plant hosts and in the spring migrate to sugar beet fields, their preferred hosts. The disease…

  • curuba (plant)

    musk cucumber, (Sicana odorifera), perennial vine of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), native to the New World tropics and grown for its sweet-smelling edible fruit. The fruit can be eaten raw and is commonly used in jams and preserves; immature fruits are sometimes cooked as a vegetable. In

  • curule aedile (Roman official)

    aedile: In 366 two curule (“higher”) aediles were created. These were at first patricians; but those of the next year were plebeians and so on year by year alternately until, in the 2nd century bc, the system of alternation between classes ceased. They were elected in the assembly of…

  • curule chair

    curule chair, a style of chair reserved in ancient Rome for the use of the highest government dignitaries and usually made like a campstool with curved legs. Ordinarily made of ivory, with or without arms, it probably derived its name from the chariot (currus) in which a magistrate was conveyed to

  • curvature (geometry)

    curvature, in mathematics, the rate of change of direction of a curve with respect to distance along the curve. At every point on a circle, the curvature is the reciprocal of the radius; for other curves (and straight lines, which can be regarded as circles of infinite radius), the curvature is the

  • curvature of field (optics)

    aberration: Curvature of field and distortion refer to the location of image points with respect to one another. Even though the former three aberrations may be corrected for in the design of a lens, these two aberrations could remain. In curvature of field, the image of…

  • curvature tensor (mathematics)

    tensor analysis: …the metrical tensor and the curvature tensor, are of particular interest. The metrical tensor is used, for example, in converting vector components into magnitudes of vectors. For simplicity, consider the two-dimensional case with simple perpendicular coordinates. Let vector V have the components V1, V2. Then by the Pythagorean theorem applied…

  • curvature vector (mathematics)

    relativistic mechanics: Relativistic space-time: …the tangent vector and the curvature vector of the world line (see Figure 2). If the particle moves slower than light, the tangent, or velocity, vector at each event on the world line points inside the light cone of that event, and the acceleration, or curvature, vector points outside the…

  • curve (mathematics)

    curve, In mathematics, an abstract term used to describe the path of a continuously moving point (see continuity). Such a path is usually generated by an equation. The word can also apply to a straight line or to a series of line segments linked end to end. A closed curve is a path that repeats

  • curveball (baseball)

    baseball: The pitching repertoire: The fundamental, or regulation, curve is a swerving pitch that breaks away from the straight line, to the left (the catcher’s right) if thrown by a right-handed pitcher, to the right if by a left-hander. Some pitchers also employ a curving ball that breaks in the opposite way from…

  • curvet (horsemanship)

    horsemanship: Dressage: …its forelegs drawn in; the courvet, which is a jump forward in the levade position; and the croupade, ballotade, and capriole, a variety of spectacular airs in which the horse jumps and lands again in the same spot.

  • curvilinear style (art)

    curvilinear style, in visual arts, two-dimensional surface ornamentation that dominates the art of the Gulf of Papua region in southeastern Papua New Guinea. The style is characterized by a curving line used to form abstract patterns, such as spirals, circles, swirls, and S-shapes, as well as to

  • curvilinear writing (writing system)

    numerals and numeral systems: Cuneiform numerals: …or the circular end (hence curvilinear writing) of the stylus, and for numbers up to 60 these symbols were used in the same way as the hieroglyphs, except that a subtractive symbol was also used. This image shows the number 258,458 in cuneiform.

  • Curwen, John (British educator)

    John Curwen was a British music educator and founder of the tonic sol-fa system of musical notation, which concentrates the student’s attention on the relating of sounds to notation in a systematic way. The son of a Congregational minister, he was himself a minister from 1838 until 1864, when he