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Oval - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
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Oval : adj : rounded like an egg [syn: egg-shaped, elliptic, elliptical,
ovate, oviform, ovoid, prolate]
(noun)
1: a closed plane curve resulting from the intersection of a
circular cone and a plane cutting completely through it;
"the sums of the distances from the foci to any point on
an ellipse is constant" [syn: ellipse]
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Oval : \O"val\, a. [F. ovale, fr. L. ovum egg. Cf. Egg, Ovum.]
1. Of or pertaining to eggs; done in the egg, or inception;
as, oval conceptions. [Obs.]
2. Having the figure of an egg; oblong and curvilinear, with
one end broader than the other, or with both ends of about
the same breadth; in popular usage, elliptical.
3. (Bot.) Broadly elliptical.
Oval chuck (Mech.), a lathe chuck so constructed that work
attached to it, and cut by the turning tool in the usual
manner, becomes of an oval form.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Oval : \O"val\, n.
A body or figure in the shape of an egg, or popularly, of an
ellipse.
Cassinian oval (Geom.), the locus of a point the product of
whose distances from two fixed points is constant; -- so
called from Cassini, who first investigated the curve.
Thus, in the diagram, if P moves so that P A.P B is
constant, the point P describes a Cassinian oval. The
locus may consist of a single closed line, as shown by the
dotted line, or of two equal ovals about the points A and
B.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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