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Webster 1913 Edition


Geodetical

{

Geˊo-det′ic

,

Geˊo-det′ic-al

, }
Adj.
Of or pertaining to geodesy; obtained or determined by the operations of geodesy; engaged in geodesy; geodesic;
as,
geodetic
surveying;
geodetic
observers.
Geodetic line
or
Geodetic curve
,
the shortest line that can be drawn between two points on the elipsoidal surface of the earth; a curve drawn on any given surface so that the osculating plane of the curve at every point shall contain the normal to the surface; the minimum line that can be drawn on any surface between any two points.