Curve /(kûrv)/

Curve

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

Curve

n.
  1. A bending without angles; that which is bent; a flexure; as, a curve in a railway or canal.
  2. A line described according to some low, and having no finite portion of it a straight line. (Geom.)

Phrases & Compounds
Axis of a curve
See under Axis.
Curve of quickest descent
See Brachystochrone.
Curve tracing
the process of determining the shape, location, singular points, and other peculiarities of a curve from its equation.
Plane curve
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.

Curve

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Curved; p. pr. & vb. n. Curving

  1. 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.
  1. To bend or turn gradually from a given direction; as, the road curves to the right.