The Collaborative International Dictionary
Curiosity \Cu`ri*os"i*ty\ (k[=u]`r[i^]*[o^]s"[i^]*t[y^]), n.; pl. Curiosities (-t[i^]z). [OE. curiouste, curiosite, OF. curioset['e], curiosit['e], F. curiosit['e], fr. L. curiositas, fr. curiosus. See Curious, and cf. Curio.]
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The state or quality or being curious; nicety; accuracy; exactness; elaboration. [Obs.]
--Bacon.When thou wast in thy gilt and thy perfume, they mocked thee for too much curiosity.
--Shak.A screen accurately cut in tapiary work . . . with great curiosity.
--Evelin. Disposition to inquire, investigate, or seek after knowledge; a desire to gratify the mind with new information or objects of interest; inquisitiveness.
--Milton.-
That which is curious, or fitted to excite or reward attention.
We took a ramble together to see the curiosities of this great town.
--Addison.There hath been practiced also a curiosity, to set a tree upon the north side of a wall, and, at a little hieght, to draw it through the wall, etc.
--Bacon. [1913 Webster] ||
Wiktionary
n. (plural of curiosity English)
Usage examples of "curiosities".
He was just now selling curiosities and Joe felt that he would be only too glad to do Felix Gussing a good turn if he were paid for it.
Later—when it became clear people would pay money to visit them—some of these cabinets of curiosities grew into commercial enterprises.
I will hide this letter inside the elephant’s-foot box that, along with a group of curiosities, is being forwarded to you at the Museum in two days’ time.
He was a colleague of John Canaday Shottum, who owned a cabinet of curiosities in lower Manhattan.
Laterwhen it became clear people would pay money to visit themsome of these cabinets of curiosities grew into commercial enterprises.
Shottum SUBJECTS OF CORRESPONDENCENatural history, anthropology, the Lyceum POSITION Owner, Shottum's Cabinet of Natural Productions and Curiosities New York DATES OF CORRESPONDENCE18691881 CORRESPONDENTProf.
I will hide this letter inside the elephant's-foot box that, along with a group of curiosities, is being forwarded to you at the Museum in two days' time.
Enoch Leng 891 Riverside Drive, New York New York Research laboratory at Shottum's Cabinet of Natural Productions and Curiosities Catherine Street, New York New York The applicant will please attach a list of publications, and will supply offprints of at least two for the review of the Committee.
The local police asked for an expert in curiosities to come and inspect the cottage.
On the table a square bottle of whisky lay upset by a pipe, and the smell of it mingled with the various sickly scents of Thomas Weekes's curiosities and the stale odour of shag.
Thomas Weekes had provided his granddaughter with no more than the bare necessities of a bedroom, trusted none of his curiosities to her.
Not only did all the books burn, but also what was called a ‘repository of curiosities,’ plus all the catalogues and indexes.
I know a Man in the World, who has thought he has been able to Convict some such Witches as ought to Dye, but his respect unto the Publick Peace has caused him rather to try whether He could not renew them by Repentance: And as I have been Studious to defeat the Devils of their expectations to set people together by the Ears, thus, I have also checked and quell'd those forbidden curiosities, which would have given the devil an invitation to have tarried amongst us, when I have seen wonderful Snares laid for Curious People, by the secret and future things discovered from the Mouths of Damsels possest with a Spirit of divination.