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elliptical |
Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Legal, Acronyms, Wikipedia, Hutchinson | 0.01 sec. |
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elliptical of speech, literary style, etc. a. very condensed or concise, often so as to be obscure or ambiguous b. circumlocutory or long-winded How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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| ? Mentioned in | ? References in classic literature | ||
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| Now, of those attendant bodies which the sun maintains in their elliptical orbits by the great law of gravitation, some few in turn possess satellites. Belfast and Maston-- that it had deviated from its course from some unknown cause, and had not reached its destination; but that it had passed near enough to be retained by the lunar attraction; that its rectilinear movement had been changed to a circular one, and that following an elliptical orbit round the star of night it had become its satellite. When we see an object, say a penny, we seem to be aware of its "real" shape we have the impression of something circular, not of something elliptical. |
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