Curtate \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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)