elliptical

English edit

WOTD – 6 July 2008

elliptic +‎ -al, from Ancient Greek ἐλλειπτικός (elleiptikós), from ἐλλείπω (elleípō, “I leave out, omit”).

elliptical (comparative more elliptical, superlative most elliptical)

In a shape of, or reminding of, an ellipse; oval.
- 1876, “Chapter XIX”, in Edward Roth, transl., All Around the Moon:
  Having admitted that the projectile was describing an orbit around the moon, this orbit must necessarily be elliptical; science proves that it must be so.
Of, or showing ellipsis; having a word or words omitted.
- 1940, Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station:
  If he is sometimes elliptical and obscure, it is because he has so much to tell us.
(of speech) Concise, condensed.
- 1903, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, “Chapter VI”, in Robert Browning:
  Browning's dark and elliptical mode of speech, like his love of the grotesque, was simply a characteristic of his, a trick of his temperament, and had little or nothing to do with whether what he was expressing was profound or superficial.
- early 20th century, O. Henry, The Making of a New Yorker:
  He was called a tramp; but that was only an elliptical way of saying that he was a philosopher, an artist, a traveller, a naturalist and a discoverer.
(mathematics, rare) Elliptic.

In botanical usage, elliptic(al) refers only to the general shape of the object (usually a leaf), independently of its apex or margin (and sometimes the base), so that an "elliptic leaf" may very well be pointed at both ends. A three-dimensional elliptical object is ellipsoid, while an object that is not a perfectly stretched circle is ovoid or obovoid.