Curly had one, turned and operated by liquid (9)
I believe the answer is:
hydraulic
'liquid' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'curly had one turned' is the wordplay.
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'turned' is an anagram indicator.
'curly'+'had'+'i'='curlyhadi'
'curlyhadi' with letters rearranged gives 'HYDRAULIC'.
'and operated by' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hydraulic that I've seen before include "Driven by liquid under pressure" , "Moved by liquid" , "moved under pressure" , "Operated by liquid (water or oil)" , "Sort of brake" .)