3  definitions  found 
 
  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  1.6  [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}] 

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