Hypertext Webster Gateway: "oval"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
oval
adj : rounded like an egg [syn: {egg-shaped}, {elliptic}, {elliptical},
{ovate}, {oviform}, {ovoid}, {prolate}]
n : 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}]
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.