Category:Curtate

Cur"tate (kr"tt), a. Etym: [L. curtatus, p.p. of curtare to shorten, fr. curtus. See Curt.] (Astron.)

Defn: 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.