curve

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to bend or cause to bend

   The road curves.

2. 2
   noun

   curved segment of a road, river, railroad track etc.

   We could see the train coming around the curve.

3. 3
   verb

   to turn sharply

   The road curves ahead.

4. 4
   verb

   to form an arch or curve

   The hallway curves at both ends.

5. 5
   adj

   Bent without angles; crooked; curved.

   a curve line

6. 6
   noun

   A gentle bend, such as in a road.

   You should slow down when approaching a curve.

7. 7
   noun

   A simple figure containing no straight portions and no angles; a curved line.

   She scribbled a curve on the paper.

8. 8
   noun

   A grading system based on the scale of performance of a group used to normalize a right-skewed grade distribution (with more lower scores) into a bell curve, so that more can receive higher grades, regardless of their actual knowledge of the subject.

   The teacher was nice and graded the test on a curve.

Etymology

Attested since the 1690s, from Latin curvus (“bent, curved”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, curve, turn”) + *-wós. Doublet of curb, shrink, carcer, and cancer.