Also 5–6 cuyr, 6–7 Sc. cuir(e, 6 cur. [a. OF. cure care (11th c.; also in mod. dial.):—L. cūra care.]
I. Care, charge; spiritual charge.
† 1. Care, heed, concern. To have (take, do, etc.) no cure of (a thing): not to care for or regard it.
c. 1300. K. Alis., 4016. For his lord, nymeth god cure, He dude his lif in aventure.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., Prol. 152. Construeth that as yow lyst, I do no cure. Ibid., 1143, Dido. I make of yt no cure.
c. 1450. Henryson, Mor. Fab., 5. To get his denner set was all his cure.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 391. Quhilk labourit hes … With diligence and all the cuir.
c. 1541. Wyatt, Poems, Request to Cupid. The solemne oathe, wherof she takes no cure, Broken she hath.
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Natur passis Nuriture, 46. Of his oun kynd he took no cure.
† b. To do one’s (busy) cure: to give one’s care or attention to some piece of work; to apply oneself diligently (to effect something). Obs.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 1726 (Trin.). Noe … ȝaf wriȝtes her mesure And him self dude his cure.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., III. 654. And now cerfoil … doo thi cure To sowe in fatte and moist ydounged soil.
1430. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. iii. If I see thou do thy besy cure This hyghe empryse for to bryng aboute.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys, A ij a. I doo my besy cure for to kepe them honestly frome poudre and dust.
1556. Lauder, Tractate, 233. Bot trewlie thay suld do thare cure.
† 2. Care, anxiety, trouble. Obs.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter cxviii. 31. He despisis þe curys & þe noyes of þis life.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, I. i. 60. Lo how greit cure, quhat travel, pane, and dowte.
15[?]. Knt. of Curtesy, 82. Alas, Into this cure who hath you brought?
† 3. Charge, care (committed to or laid upon any one); a duty, office, function. Obs. (exc. as in 4.)
c. 1300. Beket, 837. And [he] quath the quit al clenliche [of] eche other cure [Laud MS. wike] ther.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. cxxxiv. (1495), 944. Pan … hathe cure of shepe and of shepeherdes.
1513. Bradshaw, St. Werburge, I. 2350. Temporall cures and busynesse worldly.
1555. Eden, Decades, 38. The women … haue also the cure of tyllage of the grounde.
1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., Pref. The Church hath in her immediate cure those inner parts and affections of the mind.
[1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 57. Cranmer had declared … that God had immediately committed to Christian princes the whole cure of all their subjects.]
4. Eccl. a. The spiritual charge or oversight of parishioners or lay people; the office or function of a CURATE. Commonly in phrase cure of souls.
c. 1340. Hampole, Prose Tr., 25. Holy Bisshopis … which had cure of mennes soules.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. Prol. 88. Bischopes and bachelers … þat han cure vnder criste.
1490. Caxton, How to Die, 15. Euery persone hauyng the cure of soules.
1540. Act 32 Hen. VIII., c. 44. The persons and curates of the sayd .v. parishe churches … shall be dyscharged of the cure of the said inhabitantes.
1552. Bk. Com. Prayer, Ordering of Priests, So that you may teach the people committed to your cure and charge.
1642. Jer. Taylor, Episc. (1647), 309. The Bishops of every province must know that their Metropolitan Bishop does take cure of all the province.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., V. i. (1869), II. 395. What is called the cure of souls, or the ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the parish.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Org., v. 134. Earning an income by tuition or by parochial cure.
b. (with a and pl.) A parish or other sphere of spiritual ministration; a ‘charge.’
1483[?]. Caxton, Vocab., 21 b. For to gete A cure of fre chapell.
1531. Dial. Laws Eng., II. xxxvi. (1638), 127. Then may the Ordinary set in a deputy to serve the Cure.
1552. Bk. Com. Prayer, Ordering of Priests, To use both public and private monitions … as well to the sick as to the whole, within your cures.
1660. R. Coke, Power & Subj., 202. To the end the Cure may not be destitute of a Pastor.
1766. Goldsm., Vic. W., iii. A small cure was offered me.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 251–2. A proclamation … that … the clergy of the Established Church should be suffered to reside on their cures without molestation.
1882. Pebody, Eng. Journalism, xi. 78. He held, like Churchill, a cure of souls in Essex.
II. Medical or remedial treatment.
† 5. The medical treatment of a disease, or of a patient. Obs.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 49. And lich unto Pithagoras Of surgery he knew the cures.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 124. Þei seyn þat mo men ben heelid bi þis maner cure þan dien.
1513. Bradshaw, St. Werburge, II. 865. Wofully cruciat with peynes hiduous, Passyng mannes cure it for to amende.
1607–12. Bacon, Ess. Seditions (Arb.), 402. The Cure must answeare to the particuler disease.
1722. De Foe, Plague (1756), 49. The said Chirurgeons are to be sequestred from all other Cures, and kept only to this Disease. Ibid. (1725), Voy. round World (1840), 339. All the while they were under cure.
b. A particular method or course of treatment directed towards the recovery of a patient, as in water-cure, milk-cure, etc.
[1704. F. Fuller, Med. Gymn. (1711), 54. The Cold Bath … a severe Method of Cure.]
1842. Longf., in Life (1891), I. xxiii. 427. There are about sixty persons here [Marienberg], going through what is called the water-cure.
1859. Mrs. Gatty, Aunt Judy’s Tales, 29. An unlimited and fatal application of the cold-water cure.
1866. A. Flint, Princ. Med. (1880), 214. In order to carry out effectually the ‘milk cure,’… milk … should be taken largely.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 6 Sept., 3/1. The prayer-cure, faith-cure, touch-cure.
6. Successful medical treatment; the action or process of healing a wound, a disease, or a sick person; restoration to health. Also fig.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 338. Of maister Cerimon the leche And of the cure, which he dede.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 97. For to remove causes þat letten þe cure of olde woundes.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 28. Past care, is still past cure.
1596. Drayton, Legends, iii. 177. It was no cure, unlesse he could provide Meanes to prevent the danger to ensue.
1611. Bible, Luke xiii. 32. I cast out deuils, and I doe cures.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), III. 362. Its bite is very difficult of cure.
1789. W. Buchan, Dom. Med. (ed. 11), 483. Mankind are extremely fond of every thing that promises a sudden or miraculous cure.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xxiii. 162. The conditions were not favourable to the cure of a cold.
1891. Messenger of Sacred Heart, Oct., 312. His cure … cannot be explained by the use of any remedies known to science.
† b. Out of (all) cure: beyond remedy; past help. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, V. 713. And þus despeired out of alle cure She ladde here lyf, þis woful creature.
1393. Gower, Conf., II. 60. I … am, as who saith, out of cure For ought that I can say or do.
† c. Amendment, rectifying. Obs. rare.
1675. trans. Camden’s Hist. Eliz., To Rdr. The Translation … was … so out of order … that … it was thought convenient, by comparing it with the Original, to doe something towards the Cure of it.
7. A means of healing; a remedy; a thing, action or process that restores health. Often fig.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., I. iv. 33. For my little Cure, Let me alone.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 776. Here grows the Cure of all, this Fruit Divine.
1776. Toplady, Hymm, ‘Rock of Ages.’ Let the water and the blood … Be of sin the double cure.
1825. A. Caldcleugh, Trav. S. Amer., II. xv. 109. The most certain cure is to send those attacked from the elevated spot as soon as possible.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 11. A cure for the headache.
8. † a. One under medical treatment, a patient. Obs. b. A person who has been cured. rare.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 67. I wil follow thy counsel, and become thy cure, desiring thee to be as wise in ministring thy Phisick, as I haue bene willing to putte my lyfe into thy handes.
1591. R. Turnbull, Exp. St. James, 123. A phisitian bidding his cure and pacient to waxe strong.
1887. Pall Mall Gaz., 11 Jan., 4/1. Convalescents or cures of Alpine parching, call that God-forsaken valley ‘sweet,’ and apostrophize tenderly their ‘beloved Davos.’
† 9. The curing or preserving of fish, pork, etc.
1743. Lond. & Country Brewer, II. (ed. 2), 122. That the Wort may have also its Cure as well as the Hop.
1757. W. Thompson, R. N. Advoc., 36. For the Performance of which Method of Cure [salting pork].
10. attrib. and Comb., as † cure-bearer, one who bears or has the care of something; so cure-master; esp. one who superintends the curing of herrings; cure-passing a., past remedy, incurable.
1545. Aberdeen Reg., V. 19 (Jam.). Maister & cuir berar of the townis artailyere and graytht thairof.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XXII. 27. Cure-passing fevers then Come shaking down into the joints of miserable men.
1622. Misselden, Free Trade, 47. Men of good quality … termed Curemasters.
1733. P. Lindsay, Interest Scot., 201. The riding Officer, appointed by the Trustees for overseeing the Curing of Herrings … with one Cure-master … at least, to assist him.
1892. C. Patrick, Mediæv. Scot., vii. 132. They should be first passed by the Cure Masters of Fish.
