CURVE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Curve

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/kərv/ Listen

noun

Curve n.

A bending without angles; that which is bent; a flexure; as, a curve in a railway or canal.

(Geom.) A line described according to some low, and having no finite portion of it a straight line.

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.

verb

Curve v. t. (past & past part. curved; pres. part. curving) 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.

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

adjective

Curve adj. Bent without angles; crooked; curved; as, a curve line; a curve surface.

See images of 'Curve'

Etymology of 'Curve'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Curve" Quotes from Famous Books

... flabbiness nor bloat. It was only around the dark, weary eyes that the experiences of the past night had laid a net-work of wrinkles and shadows. Ten years ago pleasure had driven the hair from his temples, but it grew energetically upon his crown and rose, above his forehead, in a Mephistophelian curve. ...

— The Indian Lily and Other Stories • Hermann Sudermann

... fair anchorage for small vessels, excepting it were against the beating of a southeasterly gale. The houses, or cabins, were surrounded by clusters of coco palms and growths of bananas, and a long curve of white beach, sheltered from the large Atlantic breakers that burst and exploded upon an outer bar, was drawn like a necklace around the semi-circle ...

— Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates • Howard Pyle

... gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another loafer, who had rushed up ...

— The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

... in Fredericton had been laid out to follow the windings of the river they would have formed an agreeable curve; the squares could then have been kept uniform in width, and the main streets could have continued without a jog, the whole length of the town, which would be a great improvement to ...

— First History of New Brunswick • Peter Fisher

... and wild she looked! She was either a Spaniard or an Indian, and rode astride. A bunch of red berries adorned her heavy black hair which fell in masses about her shoulders, accentuating the curve of her throat and well-formed, clear-cut features just discernible in the waning light as she sat motionless and erect on her horse, gazing at him in silence and evidently as much surprised as he was by their sudden encounter. Then ...

— When Dreams Come True • Ritter Brown

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