elongate
/əˈlɔŋˌɡeɪt/
Frequency: 2.78 in modern English
Meaning
adj
Elongated, extended, lengthened; (especially biology) having a long and slender form.
verb
To make (something) long or longer, for example, by pulling or stretching; to make (something) elongated; to extend, to lengthen.
Transitive verb
verb
Followed by from: to move to or place (something) at a distance from another thing; to remove.
Obsolete; Transitive verb
verb
To become long or longer, for example, by being pulled or stretched; to become elongated.
Intransitive verb
verb
Of a plant part: to grow long; also, to have a long and slender or tapering form.
Intransitive verb
verb
Followed by from: to be at a distance, or move away, from a thing; to depart; (specifically, astronomy) of a planet, star, or other astronomical object: to appear to recede from the sun or a fixed point in the celestial sphere.
Intransitive verb; Obsolete
Example Sentences
- "Painted turtles lay oval, elongate eggs."
- "He stood in the shadow of the pagoda, achieving a kinship between the building and himself by his elongate elegance, an air of old, uninsisting nobility."
- "Schwarz had a glass of orange juice in his right hand. He tilted the glass slightly now, the surface of the liquid assuming an elongate outline."
- "The teeth [of Thaumatomyrmex ants], or tines of the pitchfork, are sometimes so elongate that when the mandibles are closed, the largest pair curve all around the opposite side of the head and stick out behind its posterior rim."
- "VVhen the muſcles of the heart cease to act, the refluent blood again diſtends or elongates them; and thus irritated they contract as before."
- "A vvriter may tell me that he thinks man vvill ultimately become an oſtrich. I cannot properly contradict him. But before he can expect to bring any reaſonable perſon over to his opinion, he ought to ſhevv, that the necks of mankind have been gradually elongating; […] and that the hair is beginning to change into ſtubs of feathers."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: elongat, ēlongātus, ē-, *dlongʰos
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əˈlɔŋˌɡeɪt/
- British English: /ɪˈlɒŋ.ɡeɪt/