Cur"tate (k?r"t?t), a. [L. curtatus, p.p. of curtare to shorten, fr. curtus. See Curt.] Astron.
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.
Curtate cycloid. Math. See Cycloid.
© Webster 1913.