Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having the shape of a spheroid generated by rotating an ellipse about its longer axis.
- adjective Having the distance between the poles longer than the equatorial diameter.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Lengthened along one direction. A prolate spheroid is produced by the revolution of a semi-ellipse about its larger diameter. See
oblate . - To utter, especially in a drawling manner; lengthen in pronunciation or sound.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb obsolete To utter; to pronounce.
- adjective Stretched out; extended; especially, elongated in the direction of a line joining the poles; ; -- opposed to
oblate . - adjective See the Note under
Cycloid . - adjective (Geom.), a figure generated by the revolution of an ellipse about its major axis. Contrasted with oblate spheroid. See Ellipsoid of revolution, under
Ellipsoid .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Elongated at thepoles . - verb obsolete, transitive To
utter ; topronounce .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective having the polar diameter greater than the equatorial diameter
- adjective rounded like an egg
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The effect of the revolution is to make both bodies slightly protrude in the direction of the line joining them; they become slightly "prolate" as it is called -- that is, lemon-shaped.
Pioneers of Science Oliver Lodge 1895
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For a while, they sampled movies together and Jerry arrived with actresses who resembled Dot in some way — dark skin, black hair, or not seldom prolate breasts.
The Informal Arrangements of Dot and Jerry Summer Robinson 2011
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Recently, we have measured fetal congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation volume by sonographic measurement using the formula for a prolate ellipse (length X height X width X 0.52).
Bronchopulmonary sequestration and Congenital Cystic Adenomatoid 2010
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This is why stars will not leave the Milky Way galaxy decause of the prolate distribution of matter and DM above and below.
Milky Way Has a "Squashed Beachball"-Shaped Dark Matter Halo | Universe Today 2010
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Source: KIAA; the paper published in the February 25 issue of Nature is "WASP-12b as a prolate, inflated and disrupting planet from tidal dissipation" arXiv:1002.4608 is the preprint.
Ripped to Shreds, Exoplanet Suffers Painful Death | Universe Today 2010
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Lessons include the role of parabolas in punting, how defenders instinctively use the Pythagorean theorem to prevent touchdowns and why the shape of a football - a prolate spheroid - helps quarterbacks throw spirals.
Videos demonstrate some of the science behind football Post 2010
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A spherical shell of dust that falls to a gravitating body will become distended into a prolate ellipsoid.
A Dark, Misleading Force Sean 2007
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A few stars now had pierced the blue, and in the east there shone brightly a prolate moon.
The War in the Air Herbert George 2006
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Did you know that both prolate and oblate ellipsoids pack more efficiently than spheres?
The Future of Theoretical Cosmology Sean 2006
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This same tidal force had earlier locked Jinx's rotation to Primary and forced the moon into an egg shape, a prolate spheroid.
Crashlander Niven, Larry 1994
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