elongate

adj

1. Elongated, extended, lengthened; (especially biology) having a long and slender form.

   “Painted turtles lay oval, elongate eggs.”

   “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.”

   “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.”

   “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.”

verb

1. (transitive)To make (something) long or longer, for example, by pulling or stretching; to make (something) elongated; to extend, to lengthen.

   “VVhen the muſcles of the heart cease to act, the refluent blood again diſtends or elongates them; and thus irritated they contract as before.”

   “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.”

   “[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.”

   “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.”

   “["]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.”

2. (obsolete, transitive)Followed by from: to move to or place (something) at a distance from another thing; to remove.

   “[L]et the cõmon house of easement [i.e., the outhouse] be ouer some water, or els elongated from the house.”

   “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.”

   “The principal force and property of hatred then, is to divide, ſeparate, alienate, and elongate a man from vvhat he hates.”

3. (intransitive)To become long or longer, for example, by being pulled or stretched; to become elongated.

   “Here, Mr. Lorry perceived the reflexion on the wall to elongate, and Mr. Cruncher rose and stepped forward.”

   “They studied fiercely as Bilging Day drew nearer. […] His face elongated daily, and his melancholy eyes burned in deepening sockets like dim candles, but he never failed a quiz.”

4. (intransitive)Of a plant part: to grow long; also, to have a long and slender or tapering form.

   “Shepherd’s-purse Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik. […] FLOWERS White, blooming March–December; inflorescence of racemes, elongating greatly with fruit; […]”

5. (intransitive, 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.

   “[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.”