[kur-ee, kuhr-ee] 
| 1. | to rub and clean (a horse) with a currycomb. |
| 2. | to dress (tanned hides) by soaking, scraping, beating, coloring, etc. |
| 3. | to beat; thrash. |
| 4. | curry favor, to seek to advance oneself through flattery or fawning: His fellow workers despised him for currying favor with the boss. |
| cur·ry 1 (kûr'ē, kŭr'ē) tr.v. cur·ried, cur·ry·ing, cur·ries
[Middle English curreien, from Anglo-Norman curreier, to arrange, curry, from Vulgar Latin *conrēdāre : Latin com-, com- + Vulgar Latin *-rēdāre, to make ready (of Germanic origin; see reidh- in Indo-European roots). Curry favor, by folk etymology from Middle English currayen favel, from Old French correier fauvel, to curry a fallow-colored horse, be hypocritical (from the fallow horse as a medieval symbol of deceit).] |
curry favor
Seek gain or advancement by fawning or flattery, as in Edith was famous for currying favor with her teachers. This expression originally came from the Old French estriller fauvel, "curry the fallow horse," a beast that in a 14th-century allegory stood for duplicity and cunning. It came into English about 1400 as curry favel
that is, curry (groom with a currycomb) the animaland in the 1500s became the present term.