obovate, a. Nat. Hist.
(ɒbˈəʊvət)
[ob- 2.]
Inversely ovate; egg-shaped with the broader end upmost or forward.
| 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxxii. (1794) 494 Apple-form Bryum has large spherical heads; and in the Pear-form species they are obovate. 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxx. 157 The figure..in those [larvae] of the water-beetles..approaches to an obovate shape. 1877–84 F. E. Hulme Wild Fl. p. vi, Stem-leaves obovate, having petioles. |
b. In comb. with another adj., denoting a form intermediate between the obovate and some other, as obovate-cuneate, obovate-lanceolate, obovate-oblong, obovate-spathulate.
| 1845 Lindley Sch. Bot. v. (1858) 56 Leaflets oblong, or obovate-cuneate. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 196 Bellis perennis..leaves obovate-spathulate. Ibid. 324 Viscum album,..leaves obovate-lanceolate obuse. Ibid. 460 Asplenium Ruta-muraria..pinnæ 3–7 obovate-cuneate. |