Spheroid

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Spheroid \Sphe"roid\, n. [L. spheroides ball-like, spherical,
     Gr. ???; ???? sphere + e'i^dos form: cf. F. sph['e]ro["i]de.]
     A body or figure approaching to a sphere, but not perfectly
     spherical; esp., a solid generated by the revolution of an
     ellipse about one of its axes.
     [1913 Webster]


  
     {Oblate spheroid}, {Prolate spheroid}. See {Oblate},
        {Prolate}, and {Ellipsoid}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  spheroid
       n : a shape that is generated by rotating an ellipse around one
           of its axes; "it looked like a sphere but on closer
           examination I saw it was really a spheroid" [syn: {ellipsoid
           of revolution}]