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elongate

/ɪˈlɒŋ.ɡeɪt/ verb

Latin root: ēlongātus Wiktionary

verb Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about elongate at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. Make long or longer by pulling and stretching.
    stretch the fabric

adjective

  1. (of a leaf shape) long and narrow.
  2. Having notably more length than width; being long and slender.
    an elongate tail tapering to a point

Origin

From Late Middle English elongat, elongate (“kept away; different or remote in nature”, adjective), borrowed from Late Latin ēlongātus (“having been stretched out, elongated; prolonged, protracted; having been kept aloof, removed”) + Middle English -at (suffix forming participles). Ēlongātus is the perfect passive participle of ēlongō (“to prolong, protract; to keep aloof, remove; to depart, withdraw”), from Latin ē- (a variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’)) + longus (“extended, long, prolonged; far”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos (“long”, adjective)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). Doublet of eloign. Cognates * French éloigner

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)