Elongation /(?; 277)/

E·lon·ga·tion

Elongation

n.
  1. The act of lengthening, or the state of being lengthened; protraction; extension.
  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.
  4. The angular distance of a planet from the sun; as, the elongation of Venus or Mercury. (Astron.)