Curtate

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Curtate \Cur"tate\ (k?r"t?t), a. [L. curtatus, p. p. of curtare
     to shorten, fr. curtus. See {Curt}.] (Astron.)
     Shortened or reduced; -- said of the distance of a planet
     from the sun or earth, as measured in the plane of the
     ecliptic, or the distance from the sun or earth to that point
     where a perpendicular, let fall from the planet upon the


     plane of the ecliptic, meets the ecliptic.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Curtate cycloid}. (Math.) See {Cycloid}.
        [1913 Webster]