E`lon*ga"tion [LL. elongatio: cf. F. 'elongation.]

1.

The act of lengthening, or the state of being lengthened; protraction; extension.

"Elongation of the fibers."

Arbuthnot.

2.

That which lengthens out; continuation.

May not the mountains of Westmoreland and Cumberland be considered as elongations of these two chains? Pinkerton.

3.

Removal to a distance; withdrawal; a being at a distance; distance.

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.

4. Astron.

The angular distance of a planet from the sun; as, the elongation of Venus or Mercury.

 

© Webster 1913.