Curve
[kɜːv] or [kɝv]
Definition
(noun.) a pitch of a baseball that is thrown with spin so that its path curves as it approaches the batter.
(noun.) a line on a graph representing data.
(noun.) the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes.
Typed by Levi--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Bent without angles; crooked; curved; as, a curve line; a curve surface.
(a.) A bending without angles; that which is bent; a flexure; as, a curve in a railway or canal.
(a.) A line described according to some low, and having no finite portion of it a straight line.
(a.) 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.
(v. i.) To bend or turn gradually from a given direction; as, the road curves to the right.
Checked by Edmond
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Bend, flexure, CURVATURE.
n. a. Bend, crook, inflect.
Typed by Essie
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Incurvation, flexion, deflexion
ANT:Rigidity, inelasticity, inflexibility, rectilinearity
SYN:Incurve, bend, inflex, falcate, arcuate
ANT:Straighten, unbend, rectilineate
Inputed by Kirsten
Definition
n. anything bent: a bent or curved line: an arch.—v.t. to bend: to form into a curve.—adjs. Cur′vāte -d curved or bent in a regular form.—n. Curvā′tion.—adj. Cur′vative.—n. Cur′vature a curving or bending: the continual bending or the amount of bending from a straight line.—adjs. Curved; Cur′vicaudate having a crooked tail; Curvicos′tate having curved ribs; Curvifō′liate having curved leaves; Cur′viform; Cur′ving; Curviros′tral with the bill curved downward; Cur′vital of or pertaining to curvature.—n. Cur′vity the state of being curved.
Typed by Levi
Examples
- We did not go very far along the road, for Holmes stopped the instant that the curve hid us from the landlord's view. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- At the same instant an empty dog-cart, the horse cantering, the reins trailing, appeared round the curve of the road and rattled swiftly towards us. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Her glance swept the horse-shoe curve of boxes. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- The wind was down or we were protected by mountains that bounded the curve the lake had made. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- Mr. Tupman looked at him very hard again; but there was not a wink in his eye, or a curve in his face. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- We had to bank the tracks up to an angle of thirty degrees before we could turn the curve and stay on. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Lily had slept well, and her bath had filled her with a pleasant glow, which was becomingly reflected in the clear curve of her cheek. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- It had the curves and indentations in it still, where it had been twined and bound. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- One of Plato's associates, working under his direct ion, investigated the curves produced by cutting cones of different kinds in a certain plane. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- This model showed itself capable of traveling at high speed on a single rail, rounding sharp curves and even traversing with ease a wire cable hung in the air. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- At one point the grade dropped some sixty feet in a distance of three hundred, and the curves were of recklessly short radius. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- They are generally sunk in valley plains and districts where the formation of the ground is such that that below the surface is bent into basin-shaped curves. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- I protested at the rate of speed over the sharp curves, designed to show the power of the engine, but Edison said they had done it often. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- These curves--the ellipse, the parabola, the hyperb ola--play a large part in the subsequent history of astronomy and mechanics. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Brass tubes can easily be bent by ramming full of sand, stopping the ends, and bending them over a curved surface. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- In this a vacuum is maintained by a condenser, the vapors passing from the pan to the condenser through the great curved pipe rising from the top, which pipe is five feet in diameter. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- A large curved retort was boiling furiously in the bluish flame of a Bunsen burner, and the distilled drops were condensing into a two-litre measure. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Other stone-cutting machines had for their objects the cutting and moulding the edges of tables, mantels and slabs; and the cutting of circular and other curved work. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Formerly augers and similar boring tools had merely a curved sharpened end and a concavity to hold the chips, and the whole tool had to be withdrawn to empty the chips. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- This is the case: I observed that the young flower-peduncles of the above Maurandia curved themselves a little towards the side which was touched. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- The cock, being curved like a snake, was called the serpentine. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, thrown out on each side. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Later, the bowl became more pointed, the drop was replaced by a tongue, and the handle, after 1760, instead of slightly curving to the front at the end, reversed the position. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The Wrights doubted whether this was the best form for shifting weather, and built theirs more on the pattern of the gull’s wings, curving slightly at the tips. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- It was impossible, from that position, to see the fall, but I could see the curving path which winds over the shoulder of the hill and leads to it. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Sometimes they cut spiral strips from the curving horns of a mountain sheep, and steamed them straight. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Here, in a clearing upon the green slope of a hill, stood a long, low, stone house, approached by a curving drive running through the fields. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- The view was pleasant; a highroad curving round the edge of a low lake, under the trees. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
Typed by Joan