Curtate /(k?r"t?t)/

Cur·tate

Curtate

a.
  1. 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. (Astron.)

Phrases & Compounds

Curtate cycloid
See Cycloid.