oblong

半年以上前に予約していたKazuo Ishiguroの "Klara and the Sun" がやっと借りれたので読み始めました。
最初に取り上げる単語は次の個所に出てきた "oblong" です。
Some of the people who paused turned out not to be interested in us at all. They'd just wanted to take off their sports shoe and do something to it, or to press their oblong. Some though came right up to the glass and gazed in.
この "oblong" はその後にも次のように何度も出てきます。
We would find the Mother sitting at the Island, staring at her oblong as she drank her coffee, Melania Housekeeper hovering nearby to refill her cup.
...
If Josie was talking about her oblong tutors, doing her best to be humorous about them, the Mother would listen with a serious expression, then interrupt to say:
'We could switch. If you don't like the guy, we can always switch.'
...
I became exited at this prospect. But first Josie had her tutorial, and I watched her spread her papers over the surface of the Island and turn on her oblong.
"oblong" は長方形のイメージがありますが、辞書を見ると楕円形を意味する場合もあるようでした。
・Oxford English Dictionary: An object or flat figure in an elongated rectangle or oval shape.

これだけでは小説に出てくる "oblong" が実際に何だか直ぐには分かりませでしたが、よくよく考えると、"oblong" はスマホの様な "gadget" を指していると推測します。小説の舞台はSFの未来なので今のスマホよりも優れている "gadget" でしょうね。