curve

a. [ Pref. in- in + curved. ] (Bot.) Bending gradually toward the axis or center, as branches or petals. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Curve, a., Cirb. ] 1. A bending without angles; that which is bent; a flexure; as, a curve in a railway or canal. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Geom.) 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. curvus bent, curved. See Cirb. ] Bent without angles; crooked; curved; as, a curve line; a curve surface. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Curved p. pr. & vb. n. Curving. ] [ 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 ]

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

adj. 1. not straight; having or marked by curves. Opposite of straight. [ Narrower terms: arced, arched, arching, arciform, arcuate, bowed; falcate, sickle-shaped; flexuous; incurvate, incurved: recurved, recurvate; semicircular: serpentine, snaky: sinuate, sinuous, wavy: sinusoidal ]
Syn. -- curving. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. (Botany) curved with the micropyle near the base almost touching its stalk; -- of a plant ovule. Opposite of orthotropous.
Syn. -- campylotropous. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The state of being curved. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. corvet, It.corvetta: cf. F. courbette. See Curve, and cf. Corvetto. ] 1. (Man.) A particular leap of a horse, when he raises both his fore legs at once, equally advanced, and, as his fore legs are falling, raises his hind legs, so that all his legs are in the air at once. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A prank; a frolic. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Curveted or -vetted; p. pr. & vb. n. Curveting or -vetting. ] [ Cf. It. corvettare. See Curvet, n. ] 1. To make a curvet; to leap; to bound. “Oft and high he did curvet.” Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To leap and frisk; to frolic. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]