Definition of "curdle" [cur•dle]

• To change into curd. See Synonyms at coagulate. (verb-intransitive)
• To become congealed as if by having changed into curd: The blood in my veins curdled at the horrific sight. (verb-intransitive)
• To go bad or become spoiled. (verb-intransitive)
• To cause to change into or as if into curd. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Pour in the lemon juice and stir to a smooth consistency, allowing the juice to "curdle" and "cook" the eggs and milk."
• "Caution, therefore, is good: fear, however, will almost certainly curdle your hollandaise quicker than the evillest of eyes."
• "Ressentiment sometimes goads such mass movements into a fleeting brilliance, but they curdle and collapse, tragi-comically or catastrophically, on their own cowardice, ignorance, and lies."