Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Deviating from a square, circular, or spherical form by being elongated in one direction.
  • adjective Having the shape of or resembling a rectangle or ellipse.
  • adjective Botany Having an elongated form with approximately parallel sides.
  • noun An object or figure, such as a rectangle, with an elongated shape.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Elongated; having one principal axis considerably longer than the others.
  • noun A figure of which the length is greater than the breadth; specifically, in geometry, a rectangle whose length exceeds its breadth.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A rectangular figure longer than it is broad; hence, any figure longer than it is broad.
  • adjective Having greater length than breadth, esp. when rectangular.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Describing something that is longer than it is wide.
  • adjective Roughly rectangular or ellipsoidal.
  • noun Something with an oblong shape.
  • noun A rectangle having length greater than width.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a plane figure that deviates from a square or circle due to elongation
  • adjective deviating from a square or circle or sphere by being elongated in one direction
  • adjective (of a leaf shape) having a somewhat elongated form with approximately parallel sides

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin oblongus : ob-, intensive pref. (sense uncertain); see ob– + longus, long; see del- in Indo-European roots.]

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