Oval

Part of speech: noun (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.

Part of speech: adjective (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. 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.