'Cycloid' definitions:
Definition of 'cycloid'
(from WordNet)
adjective
Resembling a circle [syn: cycloid, cycloidal]
noun
A line generated by a point on a circle rolling along a straight line
Definition of 'Cycloid'
From: GCIDE
- Cycloid \Cy"cloid\ (s?"kloid), n. [Cyclo- + -oid: cf. F. cyclo["i]de.] (Geom.) A curve generated by a point in the plane of a circle when the circle is rolled along a straight line, keeping always in the same plane. [1913 Webster]
- Note: The common cycloid is the curve described when the generating point (p) is on the circumference of the generating circle; the curtate cycloid, when that point lies without the circumference; the prolate or inflected cycloid, when the generating point (p) lies within that circumference. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Cycloid'
From: GCIDE
- Cycloid \Cy"cloid\, a. (Zool.) Of or pertaining to the Cycloidei. [1913 Webster]
- Cycloid scale (Zool.), a fish scale which is thin and shows concentric lines of growth, without serrations on the margin. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Cycloid'
From: GCIDE
- Cycloid \Cy"cloid\, n. (Zool.) One of the Cycloidei. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'cycloid'
From: GCIDE
- Brachystochrone \Bra*chys"to*chrone\, n. [Incorrect for brachistochrone, fr. Gr. bra`chistos shortest (superl. of brachy`s short) + ? time : cf. F. brachistochrone. ] (Math.) A curve, in which a body, starting from a given point, and descending solely by the force of gravity, will reach another given point in a shorter time than it could by any other path. This curve of quickest descent, as it is sometimes called, is, in a vacuum, the same as the cycloid. [1913 Webster]