Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To curse or curse at.
- n. A curse.
- n. An odd or perverse person or creature.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A curse: used both in the proper sense, as an imprecation, and (as equivalent to curse) as a symbol of worthlessness: see curse, curse.
- n. [A particular use of the preceding, but perhaps in part associated with customer, somewhat similarly used.] A fellow; a perverse or refractory person: a general term of contempt or reproach (sometimes very slight or jocose): usually with an epithet: as, a hard cuss; a mean cuss; a little cuss.
- To curse; swear at.
- To curse; swear; use profane language.
- An obsolete variant of kiss. Chaucer.
Wiktionary
- v. To use cursing, to use bad language, to speak profanely.
WordNet 3.0
- v. utter obscenities or profanities
- n. a boy or man
- n. profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger
- n. a persistently annoying person
Etymologies
- Alteration of curse.
Examples
“And the way he can cuss is simply God-awful," Big Bill testified.”
“Q: Why did you decide to pepper the word cuss throughout the film; where did that idea come from?”
“Just ask my boyfriend, who is constantly elbowing me every time I cuss, which is all too often.”
“In Chicago, John Laskowski was charged with disorderly conduct and fined $20 for shouting what the prosecution called cuss words after an operator told him that not only was the line he wanted busy, but also that he couldnt get back the money he had deposited into the pay phone he was using.”
“Well,' said she, when I had stopped to look round, 'it's my belief as the cuss is a-workin' now, and'll have to spend itself.”
“Yeah, I've used "cuss" a few times since seeing it.”
“I do appreciate the occasional well-meaning attempts to find sanitized alternative terms that preserve some of the flavor of the old standards, whether it's "cuss" in Fantastic Mr. Fox, "frak" on Battlestar Galactica, "shut the front door" in The Kids Are All Right or, of course, "smurf" on The Smurfs.”
The Huffington Post: Eric Williams: F***ing up the Charts: on F-Words and Music
“(One of the film's tropes is to have the characters speak in surprisingly salty language, but to replace each four-letter word with the word "cuss," a word substitution reminiscent of Diablo Cody.)”
Alex Remington: Fantastic Mr. Fox: This Roald Dahl Adaptation Gets It Somewhat Right
“I also loved that they said the word "cuss" in place of any actual cuss word.”
“Oh master, I will pray for you, I would cry, then he would' cuss 'harder than ever.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cuss’.
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Shorts
Abbreviations & symbolic numbers
2d, 3d, mba, mp, pc, tdc, gto, gt, 1664, thx 1138, pa, lol and 111 more...
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Iaan
dirigisme, dystopia, cacotopia, ex ante, veritable, indefatigable, curmudgeon, desultory, antediluvian, transmogrify, pendent, elongate and 136 more...
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Expletive Mimicry
Words that sound like words you shouldn't use.
frak, feldergarb, dagummit, daggum, gosh, darn, golly, fiddleesticks, fudge, gee, dang, shoot and 36 more...
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Rexicon
brazen, insipid, cuss, penchant, salacious, titillate, lurid, schlemiel, interlope, masquerade, supercilious, action-taking and 51 more...
ruzuzu "5. An obsolete variant of kiss. Chaucer."
--Century Dictionary Dec 23, 2010
bilby catch u sometime soon. Apr 23, 2009
artoparts A consortium of Continental, Union, Superior and Shell Oil Companies. Apr 23, 2009
slumry Sometimes a noun meaning an odd or perverse person, often used with a disclaimer, such as: "He was acstually a good hearted old cuss." Jun 30, 2007