Behind the curtain, in concealment; in secret. -- Curtain lecture, a querulous lecture given by a wife to her husband within the bed curtains, or in bed. Jerrold.
A curtain lecture is worth all the sermons in the world for teaching the virtues of patience and long- suffering.
W. Irving.
-- The curtain falls, the performance closes. -- The curtain rises, the performance begins. -- To draw the curtain, to close it over an object, or to remove it; hence: (a) To hide or to disclose an object. (b) To commence or close a performance. -- To drop the curtain, to end the tale, or close the performance.
Cur"tain, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Curtained (-t?nd; 48); p. pr. & vb. n. Curtaining.] To inclose as with curtains; to furnish with curtains.
So when the sun in bed
Curtained with cloudy red.
Milton.
Cur"tal (k?r"tal), a. [OF. courtault, F. courtaud, having a docked tail (cf. It. cortaldo), fr. court short, L. curtus. See Curt, and Curtail.] Curt; brief; laconic.
Essays and curtal aphorisms.
Milton.
Curtal dog. See Curtail dog.
Cur"tal, n. A horse with a docked tail; hence, anything cut short. [Obs] Nares.
{ Cur"tal ax` (?ks`), Cur"tle ax`, Curte"lasse (k?rt"las) }. A corruption of Cutlass.
Cur"tal fri`ar (fr?`?r). A friar who acted as porter at the gate of a monastery. Sir W. Scott.
Cur*ta"na (k?r-t?"n?), n. The pointless sword carried before English monarchs at their coronation, and emblematically considered as the sword of mercy; -- also called the sword of Edward the Confessor.
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.
Cur*ta"tion (k?r-t?"sh?n), n. (Astron.) The interval by which the curtate distance of a planet is less than the true distance.
Cur*tein" (k?r-t?n"), n. Same as Curtana.
Cur*tes" (k?r-t?s"), a. Courteous. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Cur"te*sy (k?r"t?-s?), n.; pl. Curtesies (-s&?;z). [Either fr. courlesy, the lands being held as it were by favor; or fr. court (LL. curtis), the husband being regarded as holding the lands as a vassal of the court. See Court, Courtesy.] (Law) the life estate which a husband has in the lands of his deceased wife, which by the common law takes effect where he has had issue by her, born alive, and capable of inheriting the lands. Mozley & W.
Cur"ti*lage (k&?;r"t&?;-l&?;j), n. [OF. cortillage, curtillage, fr. cortil court, courtyard, LL. cortis court. See Court.] (Law) A yard, courtyard, or piece of ground, included within the fence surrounding a dwelling house. Burrill.
Curt"ly (kűrt"l&ybreve;), adv. In a curt manner.
Curt"ness, n. The quality of bing curt.
Curt"sy (kűrt"s&ybreve;), n. Same as Courtesy, an act of respect.
Cu"rule (kū"r&udd;l), a. [L. curulis, fr. currus a chariot: cf. F. curule.] 1. Of or pertaining to a chariot.
2. (Rom. Antiq.) Of or pertaining to a kind of chair appropriated to Roman magistrates and dignitaries; pertaining to, having, or conferring, the right to sit in the curule chair; hence, official.
&fist; The curule chair was usually shaped like a camp stool, and provided with curved legs. It was at first ornamented with ivory, and later sometimes made of ivory and inlaid with gold.
Curule dignity right of sitting in the curule chair.
||Cu*ru"ro (k??-r??"r?), n. [Chilian name.] (Zo÷l.) A Chilian burrowing rodent of the genus Spalacopus.
{ Cur"val (k?r"val), Cur"vant (- vant) }, a. [L. curvans, p. pr. ] (Her.) Bowed; bent; curved.
{ Cur"vate (k?r"v?t), Cur"va*ted (-v?-t?d), } a. [L. curvatus p. p. of curvare to curve, fr. curvus. See Curve.] Bent in a regular form; curved.
Cur*va"tion (k?r-v?"sh?n), n. [L. curvatio.] The act of bending or crooking.
Cur"va*tive (k?r"v?-t?v), a. (Bot.) Having the margins only a little curved; -- said of leaves. Henslow.
Cur"va*ture (k?r"v?-t?r; 135), n. [L. curvatura. See Curvate.] 1. The act of curving, or the state of being bent or curved; a curving or bending, normal or abnormal, as of a line or surface from a rectilinear direction; a bend; a curve. Cowper.
The elegant curvature of their fronds.
Darwin.
2. (Math.) The amount of degree of bending of a mathematical curve, or the tendency at any point to depart from a tangent drawn to the curve at that point.
Aberrancy of curvature (Geom.), the deviation of a curve from a circular form. -- Absolute curvature. See under Absolute. -- Angle of curvature (Geom.), one that expresses the amount of curvature of a curve. -- Chord of curvature. See under Chord. -- Circle of curvature. See Osculating circle of a curve, under Circle. -- Curvature of the spine (Med.), an abnormal curving of the spine, especially in a lateral direction. -- Radius of curvature, the radius of the circle of curvature, or osculatory circle, at any point of a curve.
Curve (kűrv), a. [L. curvus bent, curved. See Cirb.] Bent without angles; crooked; curved; as, a curve line; a curve surface.
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.
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.
Curve, v. i. To bend or turn gradually from a given direction; as, the road curves to the right.
Curv"ed*ness (-?d-n?s), n. The state of being curved.
Cur"vet (kűr"v?t or kűr-v?t"; 277), n. [OE. corvet, It. corvetta: cf. F. courbette. See Curve, and cf. Corvetto.] 1. (Man.) A particular leap of a horse, when he raises both his fore legs at once, equally advanced, and, as his fore legs are falling, raises his hind legs, so that all his legs are in the air at once.