a. Geom. and Astron. [ad. L. curtāt-us, f. curtāre to cut short: see CURT v.] Shortened, reduced; applied to a line projected orthographically upon a plane. Curtate distance: the distance of a planet or comet from the sun or earth, projected upon the plane of the ecliptic. Curtate cycloid: see CYCLOID.
1676. Halley, in Rigaud, Corr. Sci. Men (1841), I. 239. As cosine of inclination to radius, so SP, the curtate distance, to the true distance of the planet from the sun.
1726. [see CURTATION 2].
1833. Herschel, Astron., viii. 275.
