Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CURT'ATE, a. [L. curtatus, from curto, to shorten.]

The curtate distance, in astronomy, is the distance of a planet from the sun to that point, where a perpendicular, let fall from the planet, meets with the ecliptic. – Encyc. Or the interval between the sun or earth, and that point where a perpendicular, let fall from the planet, meets the ecliptic. – Cyc.