Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A man who practices folk medicine; an herb doctor.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A traditional Central American healer

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a Mexican man who practices healing techniques inherited from the Mayans

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[American Spanish, from Spanish curar, to cure, from Latin cūrāre, to cure, take care of, from cūra, care; see cure.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Spanish.

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Examples

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  • "There is the old village itself and its vestigial claims to "authenticity"; the church (relatively new as southwestern churches go, having replaced an older one in 1884); the 18-year-old upscale development to the west for contrast (and for an architectural tour of another nature; it's a good survey of imagined "Santa Fe style"); the movie set in the distance the curandero's "office" with its skull on a pole; what used to be here and there (scattered adobe ruins); the quite new community center and the brand new firehouse (partially built by community work parties); yard art; an extensive petroglyph site; the cloud shows and encompassing light on ranchlands and mountains; the (diminishing) biological diversity of the creek and bosque; the mouth-watering tamales at the Tienda Anaya; and, of course, the people."

    On the Beaten Path by Lucy Lippard, pp 12-13

    April 10, 2011