Curve — Defs

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

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

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

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.

03 v. t. 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.

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.

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

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