from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Curve \Curve\, 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]