'Curtate cycloid' definitions:
Definition of 'Curtate cycloid'
From: 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]