curve, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

curve n.

[baseball imagery]

1. (US) a personal peculiarity.

1894		Fort Worth Gaz. (TX) 1 July 5/6: Say, I ain’t got a curve dat Mr Paul ain’t on to.
1897		E.W. Townsend Chimmie Fadden 22: I was dead crazy cause I couldn’t get onto his curves. [Ibid.] 24: Dose women folk has curves in dere brains a mug never can tumble to.
c.1900		Ford & Bratton [perf. Marie Lloyd] Just as if she didn’t know 🎵 Just as if she didn't know / She was on to your curves long ago.
1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 422: But he had a head on him, and he was soon onto the curves of the Chinese farmers that dealt at his store. [Ibid.] Bk III Ch. xii: The Boss is onto all your curves. I bet he knows every scab you slugged.
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 98: He hasn’t been brought up on Jeeves as I have, and he isn’t on to his curves.
1927		V. Samuels ‘Baseball Sl.’ in AS II:5 256: The expressions in general use, ‘to be off one’s base,’ ‘to get one’s innings,’ ‘to get on to a person’s curves,’ derive from baseball.

2. an occasion of unfair or surprising treatment; usu. in phr. throw a curve

1902		Ade Girl Proposition 109: She sprang a new Series of Curves on him every Week or two.
1947		C. Willingham End as a Man (1963) 37: The goddam bastard treats me like a hound [...] What have I done to rate a godblasted curve like that.
1958		T. Capote Breakfast at Tiffany’s 34: We modelled her along the Margaret Sullivan type, but she could pitch some curves of her own.
2004		E. Weiner Drop Dead, My Lovely (2005) 206: Life throws a knuckler when you expect it to slide, then hangs a curve in the wheelhouse when you’re looking for heat.

3. (also curves) an attractive young woman.

1927		‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 443: Curve, A beautifully formed woman.
1934		G. & S. Lorimer Stag Line 143: There’s a pretty cute little curve.
1949–51		in M. Daly Profile of Youth 108: Sometimes the boys [...] follow a pretty girl down the street to call out after her, ‘There goes curves!’.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 796: curve – A beautiful woman.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 8: Curve: Beautiful woman.

4. (teen) in response to a sexual advance or within a relationship, a rejection .

2019

www.verywellfamily.com/a-teen-slang-dictionary 10 Mar. 🌐 Curve - Romantic rejection.

get a curve on (v.)

(US) to hurry up, to act at once.

1888		Thomas Co. Cat. (Colby, KS) 31 May 1/4: Is Quickville going to celebrate the 4th July this year? If so, someone must get a curve on them pretty soon.
1890		Kansas Agitator (KS) 18 Aug. 2/1: Why does he not get a curve on himself and do something for the people.
1897		Courfier (Lincoln, NE) 27 Feb. 12/1: Will wrote [...] that if I didn’t ‘get a curve on me’ he’d have to come home dead broke.
1905		Minneapolis Jrnl (MN) 3 Dec. 28/2: Get a curve on you, Johnny!
1915		Van Loan ‘The Spotted Sheep’ in Taking the Count 92: Get a curve on you [...] This kid has a broken leg.

get on to the curves (v.)

(US campus) to understand.

1896		W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 14: get on to the curves To understand.
1910		Wodehouse Gentleman of Leisure Ch. v: Sure, you’re de guy dat’s onto all de curves.

go around the curves (v.)

kill the curve (v.)

(US) to exceed the average.

2009		https://www.reddit.com/r/stanford/comments 21 Sept. 🌐 [T]here are pre-meds who [...] will destroy the competition (in other words, kill the curve.
2012		M. Michalowicz Pumpkin Plan 209: They had killed the curve. At a time when many banks were struggling, Commerce Bank just kept growing, and growing, and growing.
2017		T. Pluck Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] Matt had been the kid who killed the curve in every class.

throw a curve (v.)

(orig. US) to act unpredictably or illegally, to surprise, to trick, to take advantage of someone.

1947		B. Stiles Serenade to the Big Bird 42: Those guys throw curves.
1952		(con. 1930) G. Fowler Schnozzola 149: I signed the contract in good faith, and there are no loopholes with me, I don’t throw any curves.
1959		J. Blake letter 26 May in Joint (1972) 137: Beautiful manners, but can throw a bad curve.
1962		(con. WWII) J.O. Killens And Then We Heard The Thunder (1964) 16: That’s a smooth mother-loving curve you throwing.
1966		D. Westlake Busy Body 129: Engel decided to throw a curve and see what happened.
1978		L. Kramer Faggots 185: Not believing that his Winnie could have done that, thrown him such a curve.
1987		(con. 1970s) J. Pistone Donnie Brasco (2006) 346: When you get on the table and they throw curves at you, you’re not gonna answer them.
1992		D. Burke Street Talk 2 174: I can’t believe I trusted him. He really threw me a curve.
1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 43: Blower knows he’s been thrown a curve.

curveball (n.)

see separate entry.

curve-buster (n.) (also curve-killer) [such grades are above the average curve plotted on a graph]

(orig. US campus) a student whose grades exceed the average.

1959		L.P. Boone ‘Gator Sl.’ AS XXXIV:2 154: Superior students held in high regard are four-pointers and curve killers.
1960		Strauss & Sayles Personnel 641: Just as the college student who hands in a very long term paper or an ‘A’ exam is derided as a ‘curve-buster,’ so the employee who overproduces is belittled.
1964		Harnack & Fest Group Discussion 14: In some schools the ‘curve-buster’ is an object of disdain because he dares to depart too far from the accepted standards .
1971		H.G. Hicks Management of Organizations 162: The hated ‘rate-buster’ (‘curve-buster’ in college) who works above group norms often must endure severe pressure to get him down to the group norm of work.
2000		R.C. Sproul Holiness of God 61: He was the supreme curve buster. He was the ultimate super-competent.
2006		S.M. Draper Tears of a Tiger 55: We call him the ‘curve buster.’ All the other brothers in class be makin’ Cs and Ds. My man Marcus be pullin’ As on a regular basis.

to the curve