Curve

7 definitions found

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

  Adiabatic \Ad`i*a*bat"ic\, a. [Gr. 'adia`batos not passable; 'a
     priv. + dia` through + bai`nein to go.] (Physics)
     Not giving out or receiving heat. -- {Ad`i*a*bat`ic*al*ly},
     adv.
     [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  


     Note: The adiabatic expansion of carbon dioxide from a
           compressed container causes the temperature of the gas
           to decrease rapidly below its freezing point, resulting
           in the familiar carbon dioxide "snow" emitted by carbon
           dioxide fire extinguishers.
           [PJC.]
  
     {Adiabatic line} or {curve}, a curve exhibiting the
        variations of pressure and volume of a fluid when it
        expands without either receiving or giving out heat.
        --Rankine.
        [1913 Webster]

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

  Curve \Curve\ (k[^u]rv), a. [L. curvus bent, curved. See
     {Cirb}.]
     Bent without angles; crooked; curved; as, a curve line; a
     curve surface.
     [1913 Webster]

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

  Curve \Curve\, n. [See {Curve}, a., {Cirb}.]
     1. A bending without angles; that which is bent; a flexure;
        as, a curve in a railway or canal.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Geom.) A line described according to some low, and having
        no finite portion of it a straight line.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Axis of a curve}. See under {Axis}.
  
     {Curve of quickest descent}. See {Brachystochrone}.
  
     {Curve tracing} (Math.), the process of determining the
        shape, location, singular points, and other peculiarities
        of a curve from its equation.
  
     {Plane curve} (Geom.), a curve such that when a plane passes
        through three points of the curve, it passes through all
        the other points of the curve. Any other curve is called a
        {curve of double curvature}, or a {twisted curve}.
        [1913 Webster]

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

  Curve \Curve\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Curved} (k[^u]rvd); p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Curving}.] [L. curvare., fr. curvus. See {Curve}, a.,
     {Curb}.]
     To bend; to crook; as, to curve a line; to curve a pipe; to
     cause to swerve from a straight course; as, to curve a ball
     in pitching it.
     [1913 Webster]

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

  Curve \Curve\, v. i.
     To bend or turn gradually from a given direction; as, the
     road curves to the right.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  curve
       n 1: the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes [syn:
             {curved shape}] [ant: {straight line}]
       2: a line on a graph representing data
       3: a baseball thrown with spin so that its path curves as it
          approach the batter [syn: {curve ball}, {breaking ball}, {bender}]
       4: the property possessed by the curving of a line or surface
          [syn: {curvature}]
       5: curved segment (of a road or river or railroad track etc.)
          [syn: {bend}]
       v 1: turn sharply; change direction abruptly; "The car cut to the
            left at the intersection"; "The motorbike veered to the
            right" [syn: {swerve}, {sheer}, {trend}, {veer}, {slue},
             {slew}, {cut}]
       2: extend in curves and turns; "The road winds around the lake"
          [syn: {wind}]
       3: form an arch or curve; "her back arches"; "her hips curve
          nicely" [syn: {arch}, {arc}]
       4: bend or cause to bend; "He crooked his index finger"; "the
          road curved sharply" [syn: {crook}]
       5: form a curl, curve, or kink; "the cigar smoke curled up at
          the ceiling" [syn: {curl}, {kink}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  198 Moby Thesaurus words for "curve":
     aberrancy, aberration, arc, arch, artful dodge, artifice,
     bag of tricks, bear off, bend, bend back, bias, blind, bluff,
     bosey, bow, bowl, branch off, branching off, cast, catacaustic,
     catch, catenary, caustic, change of pace, change the bearing,
     change-up, chicanery, chouse, chuck, chunk, circle, circuit,
     circuitousness, circumference, coil, compass, conchoid, corner,
     crook, curl, curvation, curvature, curve-ball, declination,
     decurve, deflect, depart from, departure, design, detour, deviance,
     deviancy, deviate, deviation, device, deviousness, diacaustic,
     diffract, diffuse, digress, digression, dirty deal, dirty trick,
     discursion, disperse, distort, divagate, divagation, divaricate,
     divarication, diverge, divergence, diversion, divert, dodge,
     dogleg, dome, double, downcurve, drift, drifting, ellipse, embow,
     errantry, excursion, excursus, exorbitation, fast deal, fastball,
     feint, festoon, fetch, ficelle, flex, fling, flip, forward pass,
     gambit, gimmick, googly, hairpin, heave, heel, hocus-pocus, hook,
     hump, hunch, hurl, hyperbola, incurvate, incurvation, incurvature,
     incurve, indirection, inflect, inflection, joker, juggle,
     knuckleball, lateral, lateral pass, lituus, lob, loop, obliquity,
     outcurve, parabola, pass, peg, pererration, pitch, ploy, pull, put,
     rambling, recurve, reflect, reflex, refract, retroflex, rondure,
     round, ruse, sag, scatter, scheme, screwball, scurvy trick, serve,
     service, sheer, shift, shifting, shifting course, shifting path,
     shot-put, shy, sinker, sinus, skew, slant, sleight,
     sleight of hand, sleight-of-hand trick, slider, sling, spiral,
     spitball, spitter, stratagem, straying, subterfuge, swag, sweep,
     swerve, swerving, swinging, tack, throw, toss, tracery, trend,
     trick, turn, turn aside, turning, twist, upcurve, variation, vary,
     vault, veer, wandering, warp, wile, wind, yaw, zigzag