See also: Oblate
oblate (plural oblates)
- (Roman Catholic Church) A person dedicated to a life of religion or monasticism, especially a member of an order without religious vows or a lay member of a religious community.
- A child given up by its parents into the keeping or dedication of a religious order or house.
- 2007, The Venerable Bede started as an oblate at St Paul's, Jarrow, but by the time of his death in 735 was surely the most learned man in Europe. — Tom Shippey, ‘I Lerne Song’, London Review of Books 29:4, p. 19
- Flattened or depressed at the poles.
- The Earth is an oblate spheroid.
- 1922, Why should I not speak to him or to any human being who walks upright upon this oblate orange? — James Joyce, Ulysses
- 1997, ‘ ’Tis prolate, still,’ with a long dejected Geordie O. ‘Isn’t it…?’ ‘I’m an Astronomer,– trust me, ’tis gone well to oblate.’ — Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon