▪ I. oviform, a.1
(ˈəʊvɪfɔːm)
[f. ovi-1 + -form: cf. mod.L. ōviform-is, F. oviforme (Littré).]
Having the form of an egg; egg-shaped.
| 1684 T. Burnet Th. Earth i. v. 65 This notion of the Mundane Egg, or that the World was Oviform, hath been the sence and Language of all Antiquity. 1769 W. Hewson in Phil. Trans. LIX. 212 That in the human subject each lacteal forms an ampullula or oviform vesicle. 1816 G. S. Faber Orig. Pagan Idol. III. 186 A large orbicular or oviform stone. 1879 J. J. Young Ceram. Art 179 A set of three small oviform vases. |
† b. Consisting of small particles like eggs or the roe of fishes, as oviform limestone = oolite.
| 1799 Kirwan Geol. Ess. ii. 234 Oviform Limestone. This is not common; the balls or globules have for the most part a grain of sand in the middle. 1816 W. Smith Strata Ident. 29 Freestone, calcareous, soft, oviform. |
▪ II. ˈoviform, a.2 rare.
[f. ovi-2 + -form.]
Of the form of a sheep, or (quot. 1900) of that proper to the sheep.
| 1890 in Cent. Dict. 1900 Proc. Zool. Soc. 155 Its [lobus spigelii] form in the same species may be either ‘rusiform’ or ‘oviform’. |