elongate

English

WOTD – 22 December 2024

Etymology

PIE word
*h₁eǵʰs
PIE word
*dlongʰos

From Late Middle English elongat, elongate (“kept away; different or remote in nature”, adjective),[1] borrowed from Late Latin ēlongātus (“having been stretched out, elongated; prolonged, protracted; having been kept aloof, removed”)[2][3] + Middle English -at (suffix forming participles).[4] Ēlongātus is the perfect passive participle of elongō (“to prolong, protract; to keep aloof, remove; to depart, withdraw”), from Latin ē- (a variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’)) + longus (“extended, long, prolonged; far”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos (“long”, adjective)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). Doublet of eloign.

Cognates

Pronunciation

Adjective

elongate (comparative more elongate, superlative most elongate)

  1. Elongated, extended, lengthened; (especially biology) having a long and slender form.
    Painted turtles lay oval, elongate eggs.
    • 1958, Han Suyin [pseudonym; Rosalie Matilda Kuanghu Chou], chapter 11, in The Mountain is Young, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, part 3 (Way Up), page 341:
      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.
    • 1976, Don DeLillo, chapter 3, in Ratner’s Star (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, page 46:
      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.
    • 2006, Edward O[sborne] Wilson, “Two Magnificent Animals”, in The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth, New York, N.Y.: W[illiam] W[arder] Norton & Company, →ISBN, part I (The Creation), page 59:
      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.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

elongate (third-person singular simple present elongates, present participle elongating, simple past and past participle elongated)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To make (something) long or longer, for example, by pulling or stretching; to make (something) elongated; to extend, to lengthen.
      Synonyms: draw out, prolong, stretch; see also Thesaurus:lengthen
      Antonyms: see Thesaurus:shorten
      • 1796, Erasmus Darwin, “Sect[ion] XIV. Of the Production of Ideas. VII. Of the Sense of Extension.”, in Zoonomia; or, The Laws of Organic Life, volume II, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 123:
        VVhen the muſcles of the heart cease to act, the refluent blood again diſtends or elongates them; and thus irritated they contract as before.
      • 1798, [Thomas Robert Malthus], chapter I, in An Essay on the Principle of Population, as It Affects the Future Improvement of Society. […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 10:
        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.
      • 1830, Walter Scott, “Letter VII”, in Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 219:
        [T]he despairing wretches [people accused of being witches] confirmed what the children said, with many other extravagant circumstances, as the mode of elongating a goat's back by means of a spit, on which we care not to be particular.
      • 1857, Anthony Trollope, “The New Dean Takes Possession of the Deanery, and the New Warden of the Hospital”, in Barchester Towers. […], copyright edition, volume II, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1859, →OCLC, page 335:
        As Mr. Arabin had already moved out of the parsonage of St. Ewold's, that scheme of elongating the dining-room was of course abandoned; but he would have refurnished the whole deanery had he been allowed.
      • 1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “The Friendly Move Takes Up a Strong Position”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1865, →OCLC, book the third (A Long Lane), page 57:
        ["]I wanted to give you a delightful sap—pur—ize!" Having thus elongated and emphasized the word Surprise, Mr. Wegg shook his friend and brother by both hands, and then clapped him on both knees, like an affectionate patron who entreated him not to mention so small a service as that which it had been his happy privilege to render.
      • 1874, Thomas Hardy, “The Malthouse—The Chat—News”, in Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 105:
        The maltster cleared his throat in an exaggerated form for emphasis, and elongating his gaze to the remotest point of the ashpit, said, […]
      • 1904, Prophet [pseudonym], “Junior Class Prophecy”, in Murmurmontis, volume I, [Buckhannon, W. Va.]: [Hausauer, Son & Jones for] the ’04 Class of the W[est] V[irginia] C[onference] S[eminary], →OCLC:
        Proceed advanceward for time elongateth itself as many dull Chapel speeches.
      • 1911 October, Edith Wharton, chapter IV, in Ethan Frome (The Scribner Library; SL8), New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 91:
        The cat, unnoticed, had crept up on muffled paws from Zeena's seat to the table, and was stealthily elongating its body in the direction of the milk-jug, which stood between Ethan and Mattie.
      • 1935, “[Part II: The Transference of the Consciousness of One Deceased]”, in Kazi Dawa-Samdup, transl., edited by W[alter] Y[eeling] Evans-Wentz, Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines: Or Seven Books of Wisdom of the Great Path, […], 2nd edition, London; Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, published 1958 (1971–1972 printing), →OCLC, book IV (The Path of Transference: The Yoga of Consciousness-transference), paragraph 8, page 271:
        Finally, think that simultaneously with the oral utterance of the syllable HEEG the u-vowel-sign of the blue HŪṂ within the Guru’s heart elongateth itself downwards and catcheth hold of the circle of the M-sign of the red HŪṂ within the heart of the deceased and beginneth to draw the red HŪṂ upwards; […]
    2. (obsolete) Followed by from: to move to or place (something) at a distance from another thing; to remove.
      • [1547], Andrewe Boorde [i.e., Andrew Boorde], “The Thyrde Chapyter doth Shewe a Man to Buylde His House in a Pure and a Fresshe Ayre to Lengthen His Lyfe”, in A Compendyous Regyment or a Dyetary of Healthe […]‎[1], London: […] Wyllyam Powell, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 April 2019:
        [L]et the cõmon house of easement [i.e., the outhouse] be ouer some water, or els elongated from the house.
      • 1652, Anthony Burgess [i.e., Anthony Burges], “Sermon CXIX. Sheweth in How Many Respects Wicked Men (before Their Effectual Calling) are Afar off from God, and Consequently Miserable”, in Spiritual Refining: Or A Treatise of Grace and Assurance. […], London: […] A. Miller for Thomas Underhill […], →OCLC, page 688:
        But to open this more particularly, let us ſhevv in hovv many particulars they [wicked men] are thus elongated, or made afar off from God.
      • 1667, George Sikes, “Concerning Hatred”, in The Book of Nature Translated and Epitomiz’d, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, section II (The Nature, Force, Properties, and Fruit of Hatred), page 77:
        The principal force and property of hatred then, is to divide, ſeparate, alienate, and elongate a man from vvhat he hates.
  2. (intransitive)
    1. To become long or longer, for example, by being pulled or stretched; to become elongated.
    2. (botany) Of a plant part: to grow long; also, to have a long and slender or tapering form.
      • 2009, Tom Reaume, “Mustard—Brassicaceae”, in 620 Wild Plants of North America—Fully Illustrated (Canadian Plains Studies; 57), Winnipeg, Man.: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 216:
        Shepherd’s-purse Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik. […] FLOWERS White, blooming March–December; inflorescence of racemes, elongating greatly with fruit; […]
    3. (obsolete) 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.
      • 1646, Thomas Browne, “Concerning the Loadstone”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, page 63:
        [A]bout Capo Frio in Brasilia, the south point [of the compass] varieth tvvelve degrees unto the VVeſt, and about the mouth of the Straites of Magellan five or ſix; but elongating from the coaſt of Braſilia tovvard the ſhore of Africa it varyeth Eaſtvvard, and arriving at Capo de las Agullas, it reſteth in the Meridian, and looketh neither vvay.

Conjugation

Conjugation of elongate
infinitive (to) elongate
present tense past tense
1st-person singular elongate elongated
2nd-person singular elongate, elongatest† elongated, elongatedst†
3rd-person singular elongates, elongateth† elongated
plural elongate
subjunctive elongate elongated
imperative elongate —
participles elongating elongated

† Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ^ “ēlongāt, ppl.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “elongate, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024; “elongate, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “elongate, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2024; “elongate, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ^ “-āt, suf.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Further reading

Anagrams

Latin

Verb

ēlongāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of ēlongō

Spanish

Verb

elongate

  1. second-person singular voseo imperative of elongar combined with te
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