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Webster 1913 Edition

Curtate

Cur′tate

(k?r′t?t)
,
Adj.
[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.
Curtate cycloid
.
(Math.)
See
Cycloid
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Curtate

CURTATE

,
Adj.
[L., to shorten.] The curtate distance, in astronomy, is the distance of a planet from the sun to that point, where a perpendicular let fall from the planet meets with the ecliptic. Or the interval between the sun or earth, and that point where a perpendicular, let fall from the planet, meets the ecliptic.

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