Curiosity

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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}.]
     1. The state or quality or being curious; nicety; accuracy;
        exactness; elaboration. [Obs.] --Bacon.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              When thou wast in thy gilt and thy perfume, they
              mocked thee for too much curiosity.   --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              A screen accurately cut in tapiary work . . . with
              great curiosity.                      --Evelin.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Disposition to inquire, investigate, or seek after
        knowledge; a desire to gratify the mind with new
        information or objects of interest; inquisitiveness.
        --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. That which is curious, or fitted to excite or reward
        attention.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              We took a ramble together to see the curiosities of
              this great town.                      --Addison.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              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]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  curiosity
       n 1: a state in which you want to learn more about something
            [syn: {wonder}]
       2: something unusual -- perhaps worthy of collecting [syn: {curio},
           {oddity}, {oddment}, {peculiarity}, {rarity}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  81 Moby Thesaurus words for "curiosity":
     abnormality, amazement, anomaly, ardor, astonishing thing,
     astonishment, bauble, bric-a-brac, cathexis, concern, concernment,
     concupiscence, conversation piece, curio, desideration, desire,
     drive, eagerness, enthusiasm, exception, fancy, fantasy, freak,
     gazingstock, gewgaw, hope, horme, improbability, inquisitiveness,
     intellectual curiosity, interest, interestedness, interference,
     intrusiveness, libido, lust for learning, marvel, marvelment,
     matter of interest, meddlesomeness, mind, miracle, monstrosity,
     museum piece, need, nonesuch, nosiness, objet d'art, oddity,
     passion, phenomenon, pleasure, pleasure principle, prodigiosity,
     prodigy, prying, questioning, quite a thing, rarity, regard,
     sensation, sexual desire, sight, snooping, something else,
     special interest, spectacle, strange thing, stunner,
     thirst for knowledge, trinket, urge, want, wanting, will,
     will and pleasure, wish, wish fulfillment, wonder, wonderful thing,
     wonderment
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  CURIOSITY, n.  An objectionable quality of the female mind.  The
  desire to know whether or not a woman is cursed with curiosity is one
  of the most active and insatiable passions of the masculine soul.