the.com/curb
The quiet edge between order and chaos, holding the whole street in line.
means To restrain, check, or limit something — or, as a noun, the raised stone edge that separates a sidewalk from the road.
from From Old French 'courbe' (curved, bent), itself from Latin 'curvus' (bent, arched) — the same family that gives us 'curve.' The word first arrived in English meaning a curved strap or chain on a horse's bit, used to hold the animal in check; from that restraining sense came the verb 'to curb.' The street-edge meaning is later still, named for its curved or bordering line — which is why the British spelling 'kerb' eventually split off to mark the pavement edge specifically.
- latin roots
- From curvus, meaning bent or curved
- horse origin
- Originally a strap curbing a horse's jaw
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curb your enthusiasm — the actual hbo series title, 120+ episodes since 2000