oval /ˈovəl/
 橢圓形(a.)卵形的,橢圓形的


 O·val a.
 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.


 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.

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 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]