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.
© Webster 1913.
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.
<-- Illustr. of Cassinian Oval -->
© Webster 1913.