an oblong curvilinear figure, otherwise called ellipsis. See Ellipsis. However, the proper oval, or egg-shape, differs considerably from that of the ellipsis, being an irregular figure, narrower at one end than at another; whereas the ellipsis, or mathematical oval, is equally broad at each end: though, it must be owned, these two are commonly confounded together; even geometers calling the oval a false ellipsis.

OVARY, in anatomy, that part of a female animal wherein the ova or eggs are formed or lodged. See Anatomy, n° 372, m.