"Curtate" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... comet visible at the time of one of these little journeys. Dr. Wollaston had made a drawing of the orbit and its elements; but, having left it in town, he described the lines so accurately without naming them, that I remarked at once, "That is the curtate or perihelion distance," which pleased him greatly, as it showed how accurate his description was. He was a chess-player, and, when travelling alone, he used to carry a book with diagrams of partially-played games, in which it is required to give checkmate in a fixed number ...
— Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age, of Mary Somerville • Mary Somerville
... coach rolls along the ground, any point of its periphery describes in the air a curve which is termed a cycloid; any point within the periphery traces a prolate or protracted cycloid, and any point exterior to the periphery traces a curtate or contracted cycloid—the prolate cycloid partaking more of the nature of a straight line, and the curtate cycloid more of the nature of a circle. The action of a paddle wheel in the water resembles in this ...
— A Catechism of the Steam Engine • John Bourne
... CURTATE DISTANCE. An astronomical term, denoting the distance of a body from the sun or earth projected upon ...
— The Sailor's Word-Book • William Henry Smyth |
