[syn: curl, curve, kink]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Adiabatic \Ad`i*a*bat"ic\, a. [Gr. 'adia`batos not passable; 'a
priv. + dia` through + bai`nein to go.] (Physics)
Not giving out or receiving heat. -- Ad`i*a*bat`ic*al*ly,
adv.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
Note: The adiabatic expansion of carbon dioxide from a
compressed container causes the temperature of the gas
to decrease rapidly below its freezing point, resulting
in the familiar carbon dioxide "snow" emitted by carbon
dioxide fire extinguishers.
[PJC.]
Adiabatic line or curve, a curve exhibiting the
variations of pressure and volume of a fluid when it
expands without either receiving or giving out heat.
--Rankine.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Curve \Curve\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Curved (k[^u]rvd); 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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Curve \Curve\ (k[^u]rv), a. [L. curvus bent, curved. See
Cirb.]
Bent without angles; crooked; curved; as, a curve line; a
curve surface.
[1913 Webster]
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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Curve \Curve\, v. i.
To bend or turn gradually from a given direction; as, the
road curves to the right.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
curve
n 1: the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes
[syn: curve, curved shape] [ant: straight line]
2: a line on a graph representing data
3: a pitch of a baseball that is thrown with spin so that its
path curves as it approaches the batter [syn: curve, curve
ball, breaking ball, bender]
4: the property possessed by the curving of a line or surface
[syn: curvature, curve]
5: curved segment (of a road or river or railroad track etc.)
[syn: bend, curve]
v 1: turn sharply; change direction abruptly; "The car cut to
the left at the intersection"; "The motorbike veered to the
right" [syn: swerve, sheer, curve, trend, veer,
slue, slew, cut]
2: extend in curves and turns; "The road winds around the lake";
"the path twisted through the forest" [syn: wind, twist,
curve]
3: form an arch or curve; "her back arches"; "her hips curve
nicely" [syn: arch, curve, arc]
4: bend or cause to bend; "He crooked his index finger"; "the
road curved sharply" [syn: crook, curve]
5: form a curl, curve, or kink; "the cigar smoke curled up at
the ceiling" [syn: curl, curve, kink]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
198 Moby Thesaurus words for "curve":
aberrancy, aberration, arc, arch, artful dodge, artifice,
bag of tricks, bear off, bend, bend back, bias, blind, bluff,
bosey, bow, bowl, branch off, branching off, cast, catacaustic,
catch, catenary, caustic, change of pace, change the bearing,
change-up, chicanery, chouse, chuck, chunk, circle, circuit,
circuitousness, circumference, coil, compass, conchoid, corner,
crook, curl, curvation, curvature, curve-ball, declination,
decurve, deflect, depart from, departure, design, detour, deviance,
deviancy, deviate, deviation, device, deviousness, diacaustic,
diffract, diffuse, digress, digression, dirty deal, dirty trick,
discursion, disperse, distort, divagate, divagation, divaricate,
divarication, diverge, divergence, diversion, divert, dodge,
dogleg, dome, double, downcurve, drift, drifting, ellipse, embow,
errantry, excursion, excursus, exorbitation, fast deal, fastball,
feint, festoon, fetch, ficelle, flex, fling, flip, forward pass,
gambit, gimmick, googly, hairpin, heave, heel, hocus-pocus, hook,
hump, hunch, hurl, hyperbola, incurvate, incurvation, incurvature,
incurve, indirection, inflect, inflection, joker, juggle,
knuckleball, lateral, lateral pass, lituus, lob, loop, obliquity,
outcurve, parabola, pass, peg, pererration, pitch, ploy, pull, put,
rambling, recurve, reflect, reflex, refract, retroflex, rondure,
round, ruse, sag, scatter, scheme, screwball, scurvy trick, serve,
service, sheer, shift, shifting, shifting course, shifting path,
shot-put, shy, sinker, sinus, skew, slant, sleight,
sleight of hand, sleight-of-hand trick, slider, sling, spiral,
spitball, spitter, stratagem, straying, subterfuge, swag, sweep,
swerve, swerving, swinging, tack, throw, toss, tracery, trend,
trick, turn, turn aside, turning, twist, upcurve, variation, vary,
vault, veer, wandering, warp, wile, wind, yaw, zigzag