Adiabatic \Ad`i*a*bat"ic\, a. [Gr. ? not passable; 'a priv. + ? through + ? to go.]

(Physics) Not giving out or receiving heat. -- Ad`i*a*bat`ic*al*ly, adv.

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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Geodetic \Ge`o*det"ic\, Geodetical \Ge`o*det"ic*al\, a. Of or pertaining to geodesy; obtained or determined by the operations of geodesy; engaged in geodesy; geodesic; as, geodetic surveying; geodetic observers.

Geodetic line or curve, the shortest line that can be drawn between two points on the elipsoidal surface of the earth; a curve drawn on any given surface so that the osculating plane of the curve at every point shall contain the normal to the surface; the minimum line that can be drawn on any surface between any two points.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Curve \Curve\ (k[^u]rv), a. [L. curvus bent, curved. See Cirb.]

Bent without angles; crooked; curved; as, a curve line; a curve surface.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

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.

2. (Geom.) A line described according to some low, and having no finite portion of it a straight line.

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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Curve \Curve\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Curved (k?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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Curve \Curve\, v. i. To bend or turn gradually from a given direction; as, the road curves to the right.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)