curly top

noun

A disease of beets, gourds, and other plants, often caused by the virus Beet curly top virus, which results in stunted or misshapen growth and curled or puckered leaves.

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Meanings

nouncurly top (uncountable)
  1. uncountableagricultureA disease of beets, gourds, and other plants, often caused by the virus Beet curly top virus, which results in stunted or misshapen growth and curled or puckered leaves.

    She soon joined the Spreckels Company near Salinas, Calif., where she worked on a sugar beet that would be resistant to the curly top virus.

    1997 June 18, Karen Freeman, “Katherine Esau Is Dead at 99: A World Authority on Botany”, in New York Times, retrieved 19 May 2014
    1 more example

    [T]he local pigweed hosted microscopic leafhoppers that jumped from the surrounding weeds to the beet fields. The insects spread a virus commonly referred to as "curly top."

    2014 April 28, Patty Cafferata, “History: Leafhoppers trounced sugar beet investors”, in Reno Gazette Journal, retrieved 19 May 2014
Cite this entry
APA

curly top. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/curly%20top

MLA

“curly top.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/curly%20top. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “curly top,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/curly%20top.

Source: curly top on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.