kerb

See also: Kerb

English

kerb, gutter and storm drain

Alternative forms

• curb (US and Canada)
• kirb (obsolete)

Etymology

From curb (“raised border or frame”) [from mid-17th c.]. Doublet of curve.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɝb/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɜːb/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)b
• Homophones: curb, kirb

Noun

kerb (plural kerbs)

1. (British, Australia, New Zealand) The raised edge between the pavement and the roadway, typically made of concrete though originally consisting of a line of kerbstones.
   • 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 164:

     Mobile starting-gates and horse-boxes stand parked along the kerbs, and behind every large house, it seems, is a red brick stableyard, gleaming with fresh black-and-white paint and polished steel.

2. A stone ring built to enclose and sometimes revet the cairn or barrow built over a chamber tomb.
3. Alternative form of curb (“raised margin along the edge of a well, etc.”)

Derived terms

• drop kerb
• kerb appeal
• kerb crawl
• kerb crawler
• kerb crawling
• kerb drill
• kerb stone
• kerb-stone
• kerb weight
• kerby
• kick to the kerb
• sausage kerb

Translations

edge between pavement and roadway

• Belarusian: бардзю́р m (bardzjúr)
• Bulgarian: бордю́р (bg) m (bordjúr)
• Catalan: vorada f, rastell (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 路緣 / 路缘 (zh) (lùyuán)

• Czech: obrubník (cs) m
• Danish: kantsten c
• Dutch: stoeprand (nl), borduur (nl)
• Faroese: kantsteinur m
• Finnish: reunakiveys (fi), jalkakäytävän reuna, reunakivi (fi)
• French: bordure (fr) f, bordure du trottoir f
• Galician: bordo (gl) m
• Georgian: ბორდიური (bordiuri)
• German: Bordstein (de) m, Randstein (de) m, Bordkante f, Kantstein (de) m, Kante (de) f, Steinrand m
• Hungarian: járdaszegély (hu)
• Indonesian: kanstin
• Irish: colbha m
• Italian: orlo del marciapiede m
• Japanese: 縁石 (ja) (えんせき, enseki, ふちいし, fuchiishi, へりいし, heriishi)
• Korean: 연석(緣石) (ko) (yeonseok), 갓돌 (gatdol)
• Latin: crepīdō f
• Macedonian: раб m (rab)
• Malay: bebendul
• Maori: tapa rori, paeara
• Persian: جدول (fa) (jadval)
• Polish: krawężnik (pl) m
• Portuguese: guia (pt) f, meio-fio (pt) m, lancil (pt) m
• Romanian: bordură (ro) f
• Russian: бордю́р (ru) m (bordjúr), поре́брик (ru) m (porébrik) (regional, rare)
• Scottish Gaelic: oir chabhsair f
• Serbo-Croatian: rubnik (sh), ivičnjak (sh) m
• Slovak: obrubník m
• Slovene: robnik m
• Spanish: bordillo (es) m, sardinel (es) m
• Swedish: trottoarkant (sv) c
• Ukrainian: бордю́р (uk) m (bordjúr), бро́вка (uk) f (bróvka), брі́вка (uk) f (brívka)
• Welsh: ymyl palmant m, ymyl pafin m

Verb

kerb (third-person singular simple present kerbs, present participle kerbing, simple past and past participle kerbed)

1. (British, transitive) To damage vehicle wheels or tyres by running into or over a pavement kerb.
2. To take a dog to the kerb for the purpose of evacuating.
   • 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 35:

     I was fidgeting a bit, because three dogs were sniffing at my ankles in an interested fashion. They were going out to be kerbed[.]

Anagrams

• Berk, berk, brek

Northern Kurdish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɛɾb/

Noun

kerb f

1. hatred