arch. Pl. -i, -os. [a. It. curioso a curious person.] In 17th c., usually one who is curious in matters of science and art; b. later, an admirer or collector of curiosities; a connoisseur, virtuoso.
1658–72. Wood, Life, 24 July 1658. Dr. John Wilkins, warden of Wadham Coll., the greatest curioso of his time.
1710. London & Wise, Compl. Gard. (1719), 40. The most judicious sort of Curioso’s.
1727. S. Switzer, Pract. Gardiner, II. xiii. 99. Those curioso’s who divide herbs into four degrees of heat, and four degrees of cold.
1806. Surr, Winter in Lond., I. 216. [The books] remained stationary on the shelves, except to the curiosi.
