curl up

verb, noun — 6 senses

curl up

verbalso spelled curl-up

1

Of hair to curl, make curly, shape into curls

Rollers are a good way to curl up your hair.

2

to become curly

3

to coil or shrivel, make into a coil

4

to become coiled or shriveled

5

to shape one's body into a somewhat ball-like shape, with one's legs tucked into the abdomen, especially for cosiness or for protection.

curl up with a good book
He smiled a kind of sickly smile, and curled up on the floor.1903, Bret Harte, The Society upon the Stanislaus:

curl-up

noun

Etymology From the verb curl up.

1

Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports crunch (exercise)

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for curl up and curl-up.