Elongate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Elongated; p. pr. & vb. n. Elongating.]
Etymology: [LL. elongatus, p. p. of elongare to remove, to prolong; e + L. longus long. See Long, a., and cf. Eloign.]
1. To lengthen; to extend; to stretch; as, to elongate a line.
2. To remove further off. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Elongate, v. i.
To depart to, or be at, a distance; esp., to recede apparently from the sun, as a planet in its orbit. [R.]
Elongate, a.
Drawn out at length; elongated; as, an elongate leaf. "An elongate form." Earle.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for elongate; he lists it under protract.
Where he writes about it:
Elongate is not used of actions or abstractions, but only of material objects or extension in space; protract is very rarely used of concrete objects or extension in space; we elongate a line, protract a discussion. — from protract