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

OVARY, in anatomy, that part of a female animal wherein the ova or eggs are formed or lodged. See Anatomy, p. 740.