Etymology From Middle English cure, borrowed from Old French cure (“care, cure, healing, cure of souls”), from Latin cura (“care, medical attendance, cure”). Displaced native Old English hǣlu, but this survived as heal.
A method, device or medication that restores good health.
When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose. And the queerer the cure for those ailings the bigger the attraction. A place like the Right Livers' Rest was bound to draw freaks, same as molasses draws flies.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
'Cause if there's a cure for this, I don't want it / I don't want it1976, Marilyn McLeod, Pamela Sawyer, “Love Hangover”, performed by Diana Ross:
2
An act of healing or state of being healed; restoration to health after a disease, or to soundness after injury.
Past hope! past cure!c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
I do cures to-day and to-morrow.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 13:32:
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A disease among cattle, called the murrain, then prevailed to a very great extent through that district of Yorkshire. The cattle were made to pass through the smoke raised by this miraculous fire, and their cure was looked upon as certain.1892, Michael Aislaibie Denham, The Denham Tracts, volume 2, page 50:
Cold, hunger, prisons, ills without a cure.1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
the proper cure of such prejudices1763, Richard Hurd, On the Uses of Foreign Travel:
4
A process of preservation, as by smoking.
5
Cured fish.
Well into the twentieth century, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia's Grand Banks fleet stayed with sail power. "The Lunenburg cure," heavily salted on the schooners and then dried on flakes along the rocky sheltered coastline, was traded in the Caribbean.1997, Mark Kurlansky, Cod, page 128:
6
A process of solidification or gelling.
7
Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A process whereby a material is caused to form permanent molecular linkages by exposure to chemicals, heat, pressure or weathering.
vicarages of great cure, but small value1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
9
Spiritual charge; care of soul; the office of a parish priest or of a curate.
This worke devysed is For suche as do amys, And specyally to controule Such as have cure of soule, […] No good priest to offende, But suche dawes to amend, […]c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 61, lines 1–4, 25–26:
[T]he Appropriator was the incumbent Parſon, and had the Cure of the Souls of the Pariſhioners, and that upon the Preſentation of the Appropriation, or upon the Diſſolution of the Abbey, the Church became void, and preſentative, as other Churches upon Reſignation, or Death of the Incumbent.1704, Clem[ent] Spelman, “To the Reader”, in Henry Spelman, De Non Temerandis Ecclesiis, Churches Not to Be Violated. A Tract of the Rights and Respects Due unto Churches. […], 6th edition, London: […] Awnsham and John Churchill, […]; republished in Two Tracts […], London: […] Awnsham and John Churchill, […], 1704, →OCLC, page 4:
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During this interval, my thoughts were employed on some future means of supporting them; and at last a small Cure of fifteen pounds a year was offered me in a distant neighbourhood, where I could still enjoy my principles without molestation.1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], chapter III, in The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC:
10
That which is committed to the charge of a parish priest or of a curate.
“Enough, Yet not enough. A bullet through and through, High in the breast. Nothing but what good care And medicine and rest, and you a week, Can cure me of to go again.” The same Grim giving to do over for them both.1923 October, Robert Frost, “[Grace Notes.] Not to Keep.”, in New Hampshire […], New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 97:
2
To bring (a disease or its bad effects) to an end.
Unaided nature cured his ailments.
Whose smile and frown, like to Achilles' spear, / Is able with the change to kill and cure.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
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Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins. For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you.2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:
3
To cause to be rid of (a defect).
Experience will cure him of his naïveté.
4
To prepare or alter, especially by chemical or physical processing for keeping or use.
The smoke and heat cures the meat.
Spanish ham is air-cured.
5
To preserve (food), typically by salting.
6
To bring about a cure of any kind.
7
To undergo a chemical or physical process for preservation or use.
One desperate grief cures with another's languish.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
The mud was thick — the crossing clean — / A well dressed man, genteel of mien — / Walked through the first (he might be poor), / The sweeper muttered, "He's a Cure."1855, Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Punch, volumes 29-32, page 201:
He’s quite a nice gentleman, though, to be sure, he does look a cure.1913, Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes, The Lodger: