curtate

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: cur=tate

CIDE DICTIONARY

curtate, a. [L. curtatus, p. p. of curtare to shorten, fr. curtus. See Curt.].

 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.  [1913 Webster]

Curtate cycloid. (Math.) See Cycloid.