[f. late L. ēlongāt- ppl. stem of ēlongāre: see prec.]
† 1. trans. To remove, set at a distance (from).
c. 1540. Boorde, The boke for to Lerne, B j a. Let the common howse of esement be … elongatyd from the howse.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Elongate, to remove afar off.
1721–1800. Bailey, Elongate, to remove or carry a great way off.
2. intr. † a. gen. To depart, move away or recede from (obs.). b. spec. in Astronomy: To recede apparently from the sun or a fixed point in the celestial sphere; said, e.g., of a star or a planet.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. ii. 63. But elongating from the coast of Brasilia toward the shore of Africa it [the south point] varyeth Eastward.
1775. Ash, Elongate, to go off to a distance.
3. trans. To lengthen, draw out, prolong.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, VIII. 107. It [spinal marrow] is … a portion of the brayne elongated.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Elongate, to prolong.
1793. M. Baillie, Morb. Anat. (1807), 9. Time has been given for the adhesions to be elongated by the motion of the heart.
1830. Scott, Demonol., vii. 217. The mode of elongating a goat’s back by means of a spit.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., vii. Having thus elongated and emphasised the word.
4. Bot. (intr.) To grow or increase in length; to be lengthy; to have a slender or tapering form.
1801. Knight, in Phil. Trans., XCI. 340. The wood between the bunch and the next leaf below, has ceased to elongate.
1828. Steuart, Planter’s G., 128. The minutest Fibres both expand and elongate with facility.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 263. Linaria repens … Racemes elongating.
Hence Elongating ppl. a., that elongates.
1858. Greener, Gunnery, 422. The patent elongating socket.
