curve

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

curve, a. [L. curvus bent, curved. See Cirb.].

 Bent without angles; crooked; curved; as, a curve line; a curve surface.  [1913 Webster]

curve, n. [See Curve, a., Cirb.].

•  A bending without angles; that which is bent; a flexure; as, a curve in a railway or canal.  [1913 Webster]
•  A line described according to some low, and having no finite portion of it a straight line.  [1913 Webster]

Axis of a curve. See under Axis. -- Curve of quickest descent. See Brachystochrone. -- Curve tracing (Math.), the process of determining the shape, location, singular points, and other peculiarities of a curve from its equation. -- Plane curve (Geom.), 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. [L. curvare., fr. curvus. See Curve, a., Curb.].

 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.  [1913 Webster]

curve, v. i. 

 To bend or turn gradually from a given direction; as, the road curves to the right.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

curve, n. & v.
--n.
1 a line or surface having along its length a regular deviation from being straight or flat, as exemplified by the surface of a sphere or lens.
2 a curved form or thing.
3 a curved line on a graph.
4 Baseball a ball caused to deviate by the pitcher's spin.
--v.tr. & intr. bend or shape so as to form a curve.

Derivative

curved adj.

Etymology

orig. as adj. (in curve line) f. L curvus bent: (v.) f. L curvare

THESAURUS

curve

aberrancy, aberration, arc, arch, artful dodge, artifice, bag of tricks, bear off, bend, bend back, bias, blind, bluff, bosey, bow, bowl, branch off, branching off, cast, catacaustic, catch, catenary, caustic, change of pace, change the bearing, change-up, chicanery, chouse, chuck, chunk, circle, circuit, circuitousness, circumference, coil, compass, conchoid, corner, crook, curl, curvation, curvature, curve-ball, declination, decurve, deflect, depart from, departure, design, detour, deviance, deviancy, deviate, deviation, device, deviousness, diacaustic, diffract, diffuse, digress, digression, dirty deal, dirty trick, discursion, disperse, distort, divagate, divagation, divaricate, divarication, diverge, divergence, diversion, divert, dodge, dogleg, dome, double, downcurve, drift, drifting, ellipse, embow, errantry, excursion, excursus, exorbitation, fast deal, fastball, feint, festoon, fetch, ficelle, flex, fling, flip, forward pass, gambit, gimmick, googly, hairpin, heave, heel, hocus-pocus, hook, hump, hunch, hurl, hyperbola, incurvate, incurvation, incurvature, incurve, indirection, inflect, inflection, joker, juggle, knuckleball, lateral, lateral pass, lituus, lob, loop, obliquity, outcurve, parabola, pass, peg, pererration, pitch, ploy, pull, put, rambling, recurve, reflect, reflex, refract, retroflex, rondure, round, ruse, sag, scatter, scheme, screwball, scurvy trick, serve, service, sheer, shift, shifting, shifting course, shifting path, shot-put, shy, sinker, sinus, skew, slant, sleight, sleight of hand, sleight-of-hand trick, slider, sling, spiral, spitball, spitter, stratagem, straying, subterfuge, swag, sweep, swerve, swerving, swinging, tack, throw, toss, tracery, trend, trick, turn, turn aside, turning, twist, upcurve, variation, vary, vault, veer, wandering, warp, wile, wind, yaw, zigzag

ROGET THESAURUS

curve

Curvature

VB be curved curve, sweep, sway, swag, sag, deviate, curl, turn, reenter, render curved, flex, bend, curve, incurvate, inflect, deflect, scatter, refract (light), crook, turn, round, arch, arcuate, arch over, concamerate, bow, curl, recurve, frizzle, rotundity, convexity.

Deviation

VB alter one's course, deviate, depart from, turn, trend, bend, curve, swerve, heel, bear off, gybe, wear, intervert, deflect, divert, divert from its course, put on a new scent, shift, shunt, draw aside, crook, warp, stray, straggle, sidle, diverge, tralineate, digress, wander, wind, twist, meander, veer, tack, divagate, sidetrack, turn aside, turn a corner, turn away from, wheel, steer clear of, ramble, rove, drift, go astray, go adrift, yaw, dodge, step aside, ease off, make way for, shy, fly off at a tangent, glance off, wheel about, face about, turn to the right about, face to the right about, waddle, go out of one's way, lose one's way.