from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Elongation \E`lon*ga"tion\ (?; 277), n. [LL. elongatio: cf. F.
['e]longation.]
1. The act of lengthening, or the state of being lengthened;
protraction; extension. "Elongation of the fibers."
--Arbuthnot.
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2. That which lengthens out; continuation.
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May not the mountains of Westmoreland and Cumberland
be considered as elongations of these two chains?
--Pinkerton.
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3. Removal to a distance; withdrawal; a being at a distance;
distance.
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The distant points in the celestial expanse appear
to the eye in so small a degree of elongation from
one another, as bears no proportion to what is real.
--Glanvill.
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4. (Astron.) The angular distance of a planet from the sun;
as, the elongation of Venus or Mercury.
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