ellipses VS ellipse VS eclipses

Question

Hi,This is a question about a sequence of three dots ...Which of the terms is most common when referring to ... ("three dots in a row")?mus-te

Rover_KE · Accepted Answer

It is an ellipsis.

Two or more are ellipses.

'Eclipses' have nothing to do with punctuation.

Rover

MUSCOVITE · Answer

Thank you Rover! So the right word to designate ... is ellipsis.

Curiously, some world-renowned English dictionaries present "ellipse" (and even "eclipse") as synonymous of "ellipsis" :-)
Well ... maybe I just misunderstand/misinterpret the following dictionary entries? Where am I wrong with this?

=
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/ellipse

NOUN:
(1) A plane curve, especially:
A conic section whose plane is not parallel to the axis, base, or generatrix of the intersected cone.
The locus of points for which the sum of the distances from each point to two fixed points is equal.
(2) Ellipsis.

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http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ellipse

Definition of ELLIPSE
1
a : http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oval
b : a closed plane curve generated by a point moving in such a way that the sums of its distances from two fixed points is a constant : a plane section of a right circular cone that is a closed curve
2
: ellipsis

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http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ellipsis

ellipsis (?'l?ps?s )

Definitions

noun
(plural) -ses (-si?z)

Also called: eclipsis. omission of parts of a word or sentence
(printing) a sequence of three dots (…) indicating an omission in text

ellipses VS ellipse VS eclipses

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