curve of quickest descent

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

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]

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]