Ob·late a.
 1. Geom. Flattened or depressed at the poles; as, the earth is an oblate spheroid.
 2. Offered up; devoted; consecrated; dedicated; -- used chiefly or only in the titles of Roman Catholic orders.  See Oblate, n.
 Oblate ellipsoid  or Oblate spheroid Geom., a solid generated by the revolution of an ellipse about its minor axis; an oblatum. Contrasted with prolate spheroid.  See Ellipsoid of revolution, under Ellipsoid.
 Ob·lon·gum n.; pl. Oblonga   Geom. A prolate spheroid; a figure described by the revolution of an ellipse about its greater axis.  Cf. Oblatum, and see Ellipsoid of revolution, under Ellipsoid.
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 Pro·late a.  Stretched out; extended; especially, elongated in the direction of a line joining the poles; as, a prolate spheroid; -- opposed to oblate.
 Prolate cycloid. See the Note under Cycloid.
 Prolate ellipsoid or Prolate spheroid Geom., a figure generated by the revolution of an ellipse about its major axis.  Contrasted with oblate spheroid.  See Ellipsoid of revolution, under Ellipsoid.
 Pro·la·tum n.; pl. Prolata   Geom. A prolate spheroid. See Ellipsoid of revolution, under Ellipsoid.
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 El·lip·soid n.  Geom. A solid, all plane sections of which are ellipses or circles. See Conoid, n., 2 (a).
 Note: ☞ The ellipsoid has three principal plane sections, a, b, and c, each at right angles to the other two, and each dividing the solid into two equal and symmetrical parts. The lines of meeting of these principal sections are the axes, or principal diameters of the ellipsoid. The point where the three planes meet is the center.
 Ellipsoid of revolution, a spheroid; a solid figure generated by the revolution of an ellipse about one of its axes. It is called a prolate spheroid, or prolatum, when the ellipse is revolved about the major axis, and an oblate spheroid, or oblatum, when it is revolved about the minor axis.
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 ellipsoid of revolution
      n : a shape that is generated by rotating an ellipse around one
          of its axes; "it looked like a sphere but on closer
          examination I saw it was really a spheroid" [syn: spheroid]