Crossword clues for elliptic
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Elliptic \El*lip"tic\, Elliptical \El*lip"tic*al\, a. [Gr. ?: cf. F. elliptique. See Ellipsis.]
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Of or pertaining to an ellipse; having the form of an ellipse; oblong, with rounded ends.
The planets move in elliptic orbits.
--Cheyne.The billiard sharp who any one catches, His doom's extremely hard He's made to dwell In a dungeon cell On a spot that's always barred. And there he plays extravagant matches In fitless finger-stalls On a cloth untrue With a twisted cue And elliptical billiard balls!
--Gilbert and Sullivan (The Mikado: The More Humane Mikado Song) Having a part omitted; as, an elliptical phrase.
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leaving out information essential to comprehension; so concise as to be difficult to understand; obscure or ambiguous; -- of speech or writing; as, an elliptical comment.
Elliptic chuck. See under Chuck.
Elliptic compasses, an instrument arranged for drawing ellipses.
Elliptic function. (Math.) See Function.
Elliptic integral. (Math.) See Integral.
Elliptic polarization. See under Polarization.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1726, from Greek elleiptikos "pertaining to an ellipse," from elleipein (see ellipsis). Mostly in technical use; the common word is elliptical.
Wiktionary
a. elliptical
WordNet
adj. containing or characterized by ellipsis; "the clause of comparison is often elliptical"- G.O.Curme [syn: elliptical]
of a leaf shape; in the form of an ellipse
rounded like an egg [syn: egg-shaped, elliptical, oval, ovate, oviform, ovoid, prolate]
characterized by extreme economy of expression or omission of superfluous elements; "the dialogue is elliptic and full of dark hints"; "the explanation was concise, even elliptical to the verge of obscurity"- H.O.Taylor [syn: elliptical]
Wikipedia
Usage examples of "elliptic".
They are fleshy shrubs, with rounded, woody stems, and numerous succulent branches, composed in most of the species of separate joints or parts, which are much compressed, often elliptic or suborbicular, dotted over in spiral lines with small, fleshy, caducous leaves, in the axils of which are placed the areoles or tufts of barbed or hooked spines of two forms.
The space between the planets was divided off into definite points in a series of Cartesian coordinates, the sun being the origin, and the plane of the elliptic being the X-Y plane.
It had Fourier series, Bessel functions, determinants, elliptic functions -- all kinds of wonderful stuff that I didn't know anything about.
At the age of sixteen he wrote a paper, 'Some Observations on the Relationship between Mathieu Functions and Weierstrass Elliptic Functions'.