The action of grooming a horse with a curry comb, a tool with ridged metal or rubber used to remove dirt and loose hair from an animal's coat.
From 'curry comb,' which dates to the 15th century, derived from Old French 'conreier' meaning 'to prepare or dress,' combined with 'comb.' The word originally referred to preparing leather, then transferred to grooming horses.
Currying became associated with horse care so thoroughly that it entered English as a metaphor—to 'curry favor' means to groom someone's approval the way you'd groom a horse, creating two completely different meanings from the same root word.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.