curlicue

English

Alternative forms

• curlycue

Etymology

From curly +‎ cue.

Noun

curlicue (plural curlicues)

1. A fancy twisting or curling shape usually made from a series of spirals and loops.
   • 1917, Christopher Morley, chapter 3, in Parnassus on Wheels, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, →OCLC:

     I put in plenty of curlicues after the figures so that no one could raise the check into $400,000; then I got out my old rattan suit case and put in some clothes.

   • 1917, Anna Alice Chapin, Greenwich Village‎^[1], page 45:

     There was not the slightest use in trying to make its twisty curlicue streets conform to any engineering plan on earth; so those sensible old-time folk didn't try.

   • 2015 August 6, Leslie Felperin, “The Diary of a Teenage Girl review – a scaldingly honest coming-of-age comedy”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     (Curlicue hand-drawn cartoons blossom frequently throughout, touching base with the source material’s distinctive visual style while adding an aptly hallucinogenic vibe when required.)

Derived terms

• curlicue fractal

Translations

fancy curling shape

• Bulgarian: завъртулка (bg) f (zavǎrtulka)
• Finnish: koukero
• German: Schnörkel (de) m

Verb

curlicue (third-person singular simple present curlicues, present participle curlicuing, simple past and past participle curlicued)

1. (transitive and intransitive) To make or adorn (something) with curlicues, or as if with curlicues.
   • 1963, J P Donleavy, A Singular Man, published 1963 (USA), pages 231–232:

     A chandelier the shape of an anchor, hanging over Smith's head as he passed out through this vestibule. Walls curlicued with comb marks of some fancy plasterer.

   • 1992, Donna Tartt, The Secret History:

     I was looking, obliquely, at Bunny slumped over his bowl when all of a sudden, in the window behind his head, I saw the distant figure of Mr. Hatch, walking across the open field beyond the garden, carrying the dark, curlicued ruins of the Malacca chair to the rubbish heap.

   • 2007 October 15, The New York Times, “New CDs”, in New York Times‎^[3]:

     “Here We Go Again” is the gentlest kiss-off imaginable, with strings and harp and curlicued guitars cushioning Ms. Stone’s farewell […]

Further reading

• curlicue on Wikipedia.Wikipedia