  A generalization of the notion of ellipsoids to curved Riemannian spaces is
given and the possibility to use it in describing the shapes of rotating bodies
in general relativity is examined. As an illustrative example, stationary,
axisymmetric perfect-fluid spacetimes with a so-called confocal inside
ellipsoidal symmetry are investigated in detail under the assumption that the
4-velocity of the fluid is parallel to a time-like Killing vector field. A
class of perfect-fluid metrics representing interior NUT-spacetimes is obtained
along with a vacuum solution with a non-zero cosmological constant.
