long

long

long¹ [lôŋ]

adj.

[ME < OE, akin to Ger lang < Gmc * lango- > ON langr, Goth laggs: ? akin to L longus]

1. measuring much from end to end in space or from beginning to end in time; not short or brief

2. measured from end to end rather than from side to side [the long dimension]

3. of a specified extent in length [a foot long]

4. of greater than usual or standard length, height, quantity, etc. [a long game, a long window, a long ton]

5. containing many items or members: said of a series, list, etc.

6. overextended in length

7. taking too much time; tedious; slow

8. extending to what is distant in space or time; far-reaching [a long view of the matter]

9. large; big [the long odds of 100 to 1, to take a long chance]

10. having an abundance of: with of or on [long on excuses ]

☆ 11. Finance holding a commodity or security in anticipation of a rise in price

12.

a) Phonet. lasting for a relatively long time: said of a speech sound

b) popularly diphthongized [the long a in “pain”]: opposed to SHORT, adj. 13b)

13. Prosody

a) requiring a relatively long time to pronounce: said of syllables in quantitative verse

b) stressed: said of syllables in accentual verse

adv.

1. for a long time

2. for the duration of; from the beginning to the end [all day long]

3. at a much earlier or a much later time than the time indicated; remotely [to stay long after midnight]

n.

1. a variation of clothing size longer than the average for that size

2. [pl.] long pants

3. a signal, syllable, etc. of long duration

4. a long time [it won't take long to finish the work]

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as long as or so long as

1. of the same length as

2. during the time that

3. seeing that; since

4. provided that

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before long

soon

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the long and the short of or the long and short of

the whole story of in a few words; gist or point of

long² [lôŋ]

vi.

[ME longen < OE langian (akin to Ger langen, to reach, extend) < base of lang: see LONG¹]

to feel a strong yearning; wish earnestly [to long to go home, to long for affection]

long³ [lôŋ]

vi.

[ME longen < OE langian, to belong]

Archaic to be fitting or appropriate

long⁴

abbrev.

longitude