curb

pronunciation

How to pronounce curb in British English: UK [kɜːb] word uk audio image

How to pronounce curb in American English: US [kɜːrb] word us audio image

Noun:

an edge between a sidewalk and a roadway consisting of a line of curbstones (usually forming part of a gutter)
a horse's bit with an attached chain or strap to check the horse
the act of restraining power or action or limiting excess
Verb:

lessen the intensity of; temper; hold in restraint; hold or keep within limits
to put down by force or authority
keep to the curb
place restrictions on

Word Origin

curb: curb: [15] Ultimately, curb and curve are the same word. Latin curvāre ‘bend’ passed into Old French as courber, which Middle English borrowed as courbe ‘bend’. This seems to have formed the basis of a noun courbe or curb, which was originally used for a strap to restrain a horse, the underlying meaning perhaps being that pulling on the strap ‘bent’ the horse’s neck, thereby restraining it.The sense ‘enclosing framework’ began to emerge in the early 16th century, perhaps mainly through the influence of the French noun courbe, which meant ‘curved piece of timber, iron, etc used in building’. Its chief modern descendant is ‘pavement edge’, a 19th-century development, which has generally been spelled kerb in British English.=> circle, crown, curve

curb (n.): late 15c., "strap passing under the jaw of a horse" (used to restrain the animal), from Old French courbe (12c.) "curb on a horse," from Latin curvus, from curvare "to bend" (see curve (v.)). Meaning "enclosed framework" is from 1510s, probably originally with a notion of "curved;" extended to margins of garden beds 1731; to "margin of stone between a sidewalk and road" 1791 (sometimes spelled kerb). Figurative sense of "a check, a restraint" is from 1610s.

curb (v.): 1520s, of horses, "to lead to a curb," from curb (n.). Figurative use from 1580s. Related: Curbed; curbing.

vt.