E`lon*ga"tion (?; 277), n. [LL.
elongatio: cf. F. élongation.]
1. The act of lengthening, or the state of being
lengthened; protraction; extension. "Elongation of the
fibers." Arbuthnot.
2. That which lengthens out;
continuation.
May not the mountains of Westmoreland and Cumberland
be considered as elongations of these two chains?
Pinkerton.
3. Removal to a distance; withdrawal; a being
at a distance; distance.
The distant points in the celestial expanse appear to
the eye in so small a degree of elongation from one another,
as bears no proportion to what is real.
Glanvill.
4. (Astron.) The angular distance of a
planet from the sun; as, the elongation of Venus or
Mercury.
