ovate

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊ.veɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊ.veɪt/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈəʉ.væɪt/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin ōvātus, from ōvum (“an egg”) + -ātus; see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix).

Ovate leaf form

Adjective

ovate (comparative more ovate, superlative most ovate)

1. Shaped like an egg. [from 1760]
   • 1852, William Macgillivray, A history of British birds, indigenous and migratory, page 573:

     The Geese, Anserinæ, have the body ovate, the head small, the bill stout and somewhat conical; the legs rather long; the wings of great length and breadth.

2. (botany, of leaves) With the broadest extremity near the base.

Synonyms

• egg-shaped
• ovoid

Derived terms

• lance-ovate
• obovate
• ovately
• semiovate
• subovate

Translations

shaped like an egg — see egg-shaped

botany, of leaves: broadest near the base

• Czech: vejčitý (cs)
• Finnish: puikea (fi)
• Spanish: aovada (es) f
• Welsh: wyffurf (cy)

Noun

ovate (plural ovates)

1. (archaeology) An egg-shaped hand axe. [from 1871]
   • 2012, Paul Pettitt, Mark White, The British Palaeolithic, page 122:

     Slightly derived handaxes from the Mildenhall glaciofluvial sands, generally in fresh condition and dominated by ovates and cordates.

Etymology 2

Ultimately from a Celtic language, see Proto-Celtic *wātis.

Noun

ovate (plural ovates)

1. An Irish bard.
2. A member at a certain grade of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, a neo-druidism order based in England.
3. A modern-day bard of a gorsedd, especially one acknowledged at an eisteddfod.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Latin ovātus, perfect passive participle of ovō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Verb

ovate (third-person singular simple present ovates, present participle ovating, simple past and past participle ovated) (rare)

1. (transitive) To give someone an ovation. [from 1638]
2. (intransitive) To applaud enthusiastically. [from 1977]

Related terms

• ovation
• ovational
• ovationary

Latin

Etymology 1

Inflected form of ovātus, perfect passive participle of ovō (“rejoice, applaud”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɔˈwaː.tɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [oˈvaː.te]

Participle

ovāte

1. vocative masculine singular of ovātus

Etymology 2

Inflected form of ōvātus, from ōvum (“egg”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [oːˈwaː.tɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [oˈvaː.te]

Adjective

ōvāte

1. vocative masculine singular of ōvātus

Spanish

Verb

ovate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of ovar combined with te