GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 2 definitions

1.       
   Oval , a. [F. ovale, fr. L. ovum egg.  Cf. Egg, Ovum.]
   Of or pertaining to eggs; done in the egg, or inception; as, oval conceptions. [Obs.]
   1913 Webster
   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.
   1913 Webster
   (Bot.) Broadly elliptical.
   1913 Webster
   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.
   1913 Webster
   
         
       

2.       
   Oval, n. A body or figure in the shape of an egg, or popularly, of an ellipse.
   1913 Webster
   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.
   1913 Webster
   
   1913 Webster