degree of curve

noun Railroads.

1. See under curve(def 5).

noun

1. a continuously bending line, without angles.
2. the act or extent of curving.
3. any curved outline, form, thing, or part.
4. a curved section of a road, path, hallway, etc.
5. Railroads. a curved section of track: in the U.S. the curve is often expressed as the central angle, measured in degrees, of a curved section of track subtended by a chord 100 feet (30 meters) long (degree of curve).
6. Also called curve ball, curveball. Baseball.
   1. a pitch delivered with a spin that causes the ball to veer from a normal straight path, away from the side from which it was thrown.
   2. the course of such a pitched ball.
7. a graphic representation of the variations effected in something by the influence of changing conditions; graph.
8. Mathematics. a collection of points whose coordinates are continuous functions of a single independent variable.
9. a misleading or deceptive trick; cheat; deception.
10. Education. a grading system based on the scale of performance of a group, so that those performing better, regardless of their actual knowledge of the subject, receive high grades: The new English professor marks on a curve.Compare absolute(def 10).
11. a curved guide used in drafting.

verb (used with object), curved, curv·ing.

12. to bend in a curve; cause to take the course of a curve.
13. to grade on a curve.
14. Baseball. to pitch a curve to.

verb (used without object), curved, curv·ing.

15. to bend in a curve; take the course of a curve.

adjective

16. having the shape of a curve; curved.

Idioms

17. ahead of/behindthe curve, at the forefront of (or lagging behind) recent developments, trends, etc.
18. throw (someone) a curve,
    1. to take (someone) by surprise, especially in a negative way.
    2. to mislead or deceive.

noun

1. a continuously bending line that has no straight parts
2. something that curves or is curved, such as a bend in a road or the contour of a woman’s body
3. the act or extent of curving; curvature
4. maths
   1. a system of points whose coordinates satisfy a given equation; a locus of points
   2. the graph of a function with one independent variable
5. a line representing data, esp statistical data, on a graphan unemployment curve
6. ahead of the curve ahead of the times; ahead of schedule
7. behind the curve behind the times; behind schedule
8. short for French curve

verb

9. to take or cause to take the shape or path of a curve; bend

n.

1690s, “curved line,” from curve (v.). With reference to the female figure (usually plural, curves), from 1862; as a type of baseball pitch, from 1879.

v.

early 15c. (implied in curved), from Latin curvus “crooked, curved, bent,” and curvare “to bend,” both from PIE root *(s)ker- “to turn, bend” (see ring (n.)).

n.

1. A line or surface that deviates from straightness in a smooth, continuous fashion.
2. Something characterized by such a line or surface, especially a rounded line or contour of the human body.
3. A curved line representing variations in data on a graph.

v.

1. To move in or take the shape of a curve.

1. A line or surface that bends in a smooth, continuous way without sharp angles.
2. The graph of a function on a coordinate plane. In this technical sense, straight lines, circles, and waves are all curves.

see throw a curve.