Long a.¹

Forms: 1 lang, 4–5, Sc. 5–9 lang, (4 Sc. launge), 3 longue, 3–7 longe, 6 lounge), 1, 3– long. See also LENGER, LENGEST. [Com. Teut.: OE. lang, lǫng = OFris., OS. lang, long (MDu., MLG., Du., LG. lang), OHG. lang (MHG. lanc, lang-, mod.G. lang), ON. lang-r (Da. lang, Sw. lång), Goth. lagg-s:—OTeut. *laŋgo-:—pre-Teut. *loŋgho (= L. longus, Gaulish longo- in proper names, ? OIrish long- in combination).

  This is regarded by some scholars as an alteration of *dlongho- (in OPers. dranga), cogn. w. *dlgho, *dlegho- in OSl. dlŭgŭ (Russian долго-, долгій), Gr. δολιχός, OPers. darga-, Zend. darĕγa, Skr. dīrghá; to the same root app. belong Gr. ἐν-δελεχής perpetual, Goth. tulgus firm, persistent, OS. tulgo very; some also connect L. indulgēre to indulge (? orig. to be long-suffering towards).]

  A.  adj.

  I.  With reference to spatial measurement.

  1.  Great in measurement from end to end. Said of a line, of distance, a journey; also, of a portion of space or a material object with reference to its greatest dimension. Opposed to short.

  Formerly often in phr. † long and large (see LARGE a. 4 b), which is sometimes applied transf. to immaterial things.

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 13. He sæde þeah þæt land sie swiþe lang norþ þonan.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 219. Foure þinges þe man find ilome on ȝerde þat he be riht and smal and long and smeþe.

c. 1205.  Lay., 30096. Heo breken scaftes longe. Mid longe sweorden heo smitten.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 8481. A gyn, þat me sowe clupeþ hii made … boþe wid and long.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 8079. Lang [Trin. longe] and side þair brues wern.

c. 1320.  Seuyn Sag. (W.), 577. Ac that ympe that so sprong, Hit was sschort and nothing long.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Merch. Prol., 11. Ther is a long and large difference Bitwix Grisildis grete pacience And of my wyf the passing crueltee.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), xxv. 259. The Kyngdom of Mede … is fulle long: but it is not full large. Ibid., xxvi. 269. [The Griffoun] hathe his Talouns so longe and so large and grete … as though [etc.].

c. 1450.  Holland, Howlat, 787. Mak … A lang sper of a betill for a berne bald.

1483.  Caxton, G. de la Tour, E ij. A long gowne, two kyrtells & two cottes hardyes.

1508.  Dunbar, Flyting w. Kennedie, 148. Thair is bot lyse, and lang nailis ȝow amang.

1530.  Palsgr., 240/2. Longegonne, flevste.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. IV., 31 b, note. Midas, the Poetes faine to have longe eares.

1573.  L. Lloyd, Marrow of Hist. (1653), 207. In this play they did fight one with another at the long Spear, the long Sword.

1592.  Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1848), II. 76. In armour, jack, steil bonat, spair, halbert, or lang gun.

a. 1614.  D. Dyke, Myst. Self-Deceiving (ed. 8), 27. To weare long haire is commonly a badge of a royster, or ruffian.

1682.  T. Flatman, Heraclitus Ridens, No. 55 (1713), II. 93. A white Staff … would much better please the scribbling Clown; and we’ll help him to a long long one.

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa II. i. 5. I have not been able yet to laugh him out of his long bib and beads.

1838.  Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 263/1. The Gorgon will be fitted with sixteen 32-pounders (long-guns).

1893.  G. E. Mathieson, About Holland, 37. The long low line of the Dutch coast.

1899.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 665. Many cases … yield to the long splint.

1900.  Q. Rev., Oct., 350. These famous galleys were long low rowing boats of the ancient pattern.

  b.  With reference to vertical measurement: Tall. Sometimes prefixed as an epithet to proper names, e.g., Long Meg, Tom, Will. Now rare exc. in jocular use.

c. 900.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., II. xvi. (Schipper), 179. Cwæþ þæt he wære se mon lang on bodiʓe.

a. 1000.  Byrhtnoth, 273 (Gr.). Ða ʓyt on orde stod Eadweard se langa.

c. 1205.  Lay., 6366. Cniht he wes swiðe strong … muchel and long.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 8526. Þikke mon he was inou bote he was noȝt wel long.

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. Prol. 52. Grete lobres and longe þat loþ weore to swynke. Ibid. (1377), B. XV. 148. I haue lyued in londe … my name is longe wille.

? 14[?].  John de Reeve, 254–5, in Furnivall, Percy Folio (1868), II. 568. What long ffellow is yonder, quoth hee, that is soe long of lim and lyre?

c. 1420.  Pallad. on Husb., I. 86. The treen thereon light, fertil, faire, and longe.

1430–40.  Lydg., Bochas, I. ii. (1544), 4 b. This Nembroth [Nimrod] waxe mighty, large and long.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, VI. xv. 676. Tamarisk is a little tree or plant as long as a man.

1588.  Acc. Bk. W. Wray, in Antiquary, XXXII. 54. Bought of lounge Tome the 23 of aprill [etc.].

1609.  Bible (Douay), Deut. ii. 21. A great and huge people, and of long stature.

1618.  W. Lawson, New Orch. & Gard. (1623), 39. Pride of sap makes proud, long & streight growth.

1795.  Burns, Song, ‘Their groves o’ sweet myrtles.’ Wi’ the burn stealing under the lang yellow broom.

1814.  Scott, Wav., xxxv. Lang John Mucklewrath the smith.

1871.  R. Ellis, trans. Catullus, lxvii. 47. Sir, ’twas a long lean suitor.

  c.  Long arm, hand: used transf. and fig. with reference to extent of reach. Also, † to make a long arm: to reach out to a great distance. A long face (see FACE sb. 6 b) colloq.: an expression of countenance indicating sadness or exaggerated solemnity. A long head: a head of more than ordinary length from back to front; fig. capacity for calculation and forethought. (Cf. LONG-HEAD, LONG-HEADED.) To make a long neck: to stretch out the neck. To make a long nose (slang): to put the thumb to the nose, as a gesture of mockery. A long tongue: fig. loquacity.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, vii. 177. Thenne he … bare his hede vp, and made a long necke.

1539.  Taverner, Erasm. Prov., 4. Longae regum manus. Kynges haue longe handes.

1599.  Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, 42. Ouer that arme of the sea could be made a long arme.

1621.  Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, V. iv. What ye have seen, be secret in;… No more of your long tongue.

1656.  Earl Monm., trans. Boccalini’s Advts. fr. Parnass., I. xxiii. (1674), 24. Potent men, who have long hands, and short consciences … would [etc.].

1786.  Burns, Ded. to G. Hamilton, 62. Learn three-mile pray’rs, and half-mile graces, Wi’ weel-spread looves, an’ lang, wry faces.

1809.  Malkin, Gil Blas, IX. viii. ¶ 2. He had a long head, as well as a fanciful brain.

1834.  Ht. Martineau, Farrers, i. 8. You will see long faces enough when these taxes come to be paid.

1868.  Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 263. Prawle made a ‘long nose’ in the direction of Goree Piazzas.

1879.  Spurgeon, Serm., XXV. 548. You can put on a very long face and try to scold people into religion.

1889.  ‘J. S. Winter,’ Mrs. Bob (1891), 134. He has always had luck, and he has a long head too.

1899.  Daily News, 15 May, 3/5. The long arm of coincidence.

  d.  Qualifying a sb. denoting a measure of length, to indicate an extent greater than that expressed by the sb. (Cf. 10.)

1619.  in Ferguson & Nanson, Munic. Rec. Carlisle (1887), 278. [Buying] harden cloath in the merkett with a longe yeard and selling the same againe with a short yeard.

c. 1646.  True Relation, etc. in Glover, Hist. Derby (1829), I. App. 63. His Major … was forced to retreate in the night to Derby, being vi. long miles.

1697.  Rokeby, Diary, 57. Att Poulston Bridge (a long mile from Launceston) we entr into Cornwall.

1790.  Burns, Tam o’ Shanter, 7. We think na on the lang Scots miles … That lie between us and our hame.

1842.  Borrow, Bible in Spain (1843), II. xi. 245. I discovered that we were still two long leagues distant from Corcuvion.

  e.  Of action, vision, etc.: Extending to a great distance. (Cf. long sight, 18.) At long weapons: (fighting) at long range. Similarly, at long bowls (or balls): said of ships cannonading one another at a distance. Also long train = long distance train.

1604.  E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. xiv. 163. Man hath not so long a sight,… to transporte his eyes … in so short a time.

1715–20.  Pope, Iliad, XVIII. 384. But mighty Jove cuts short, with just disdain, The long, long views of poor, designing man!

1723.  Wodrow Corr. (1843), III. 16. This would be … liker honest men, than to keep us at long weapons, and fighting in the dark.

1840.  Saunders, Reg. Sel. Comm. Railways, Quest. 361. Places on the line where short and long trains are running together.

  f.  Long dung: manure containing long straw undecayed; so long litter (see LITTER sb. 3 b, c). Long forage: straw and green fodder, as distinguished from hay, oats, etc.

1664.  Evelyn, Kal. Hort., Nov. (1699), 130. The Leaves fallen in the Woods, may supply for Long-dung, laid about Artichocks and other things.

1775.  W. Marshall, Minutes Agric., 15 Feb. (1778). It forwards the digestion of stubble, offal straw, or long dung very much.

1797.  J. Jay, in Sir J. Sinclair’s Corr. (1831), II. 60. Long dung is better than rotten dung, in the furrows, for potatoes.

1812.  Wellington, Lett. to Earl Liverpool, 11 Feb., in Gurw., Desp. (1838), VIII. 602. To secure a supply of long forage for the Cavalry.

1830.  Cumb. Farm. Rep., 58, in Husbandry (L. U. K.), III. Long dung, that is to say, dung not fermented, may be applied to potatoes without any impropriety.

  g.  A long beer, drink (colloq.): lit. of liquor in a long glass; hence, a large measure of liquor.

1859.  Trollope, W. Indies, iii. (1860), 48. A long drink is taken from a tumbler, a short one from a wine-glass.

1892.  E. Reeves, Homeward Bound, 61. He stepped into a bar and called for a long beer.

  2.  Having (more or less, or a specified) extension from end to end: often with adv. or advb. phrase expressing the amount of length. It’s as long as it is broad: see BROAD a. 13. † Through long and broad —: through the length and breadth of.

c. 900.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., I. iii. (Schipper), 15. Þæt ealond on Wiht … is þrittiʓes mila lang east & west.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 1667. I sal þe tel how lang, how brade … it sal be made.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), ii. 5. Þe table … was a fote and a halfe lang.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, lxxii. 66. Unto the crose of breid and lenth, To gar his lymmis langar wax.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 233 b. No longer quantitie, then that a man myght easely put thorough his arme.

1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., III. i. 131. A cloake as long as thine will serue the turne.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 4. The lenth … seuin hundir thousand pace lang, or thair about.

1617.  Moryson, Itin., III. IV. ii. 195. That … each person … possessing (through long and broad Germany) … 500 gold Guldens, should [etc.].

1678.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 77. Four Inches broad, and seven Foot long.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. 395/2. The size for makeing of Brick are 10 Inches long, 5 broad, and 3 thick.

1840.  G. V. Ellis, Anat., 293. The aqueduct of the cochlea is a small canal, about a quarter of an inch long.

1854.  Fraser’s Mag., XLIX. 505. A mark 30 feet long by 20.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., II. ii. 240. The waves which produce red [light] are longer than those which produce yellow.

  ¶ b.  With mixed construction: see OF 39 b.

1535.  Coverdale, Lam. ii. 20. Shal the women then eate their owne frute, euen children of a spanne longe?

  † c.  Extending to. Obs.

c. 1610.  Women Saints, 148. There appeared before her a verie cleare white garment long to her foote, which she taking putt on her naked bodie.

  3.  With reference to shape: Having the length much greater than the breadth; elongated.

1551, etc.  [see long square in 17].

1826.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., IV. 261. Proportion … Long (Longa) Disproportionably long throughout.

1851.  Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 1175. Printed long shawls. Ibid., 1245. French long and square cashmeres.

  4.  Of liquors: Ropy. ? Obs. [So G. lang.]

a. 1648.  Digby, Closet Open. (1677), 91. There let it [the wort] stand till it begin to blink and grow long like thin Syrup.

1703.  Art & Myst. Vintners, 43. If Wine at any time grow long or lowring. Ibid., 65. Sack that is lumpish or long.

[1859:  cf. long sugar in 18 below.]

  II.  With reference to serial extent or duration.

  5.  Of a series, enumeration or succession, a speech, a sentence, a word, a literary work, etc.: Having a great extent from beginning to end. Long bill: one containing a great number of items; hence, one in which the charges are excessive. Long hour: one indicated by a great number of strokes. † Long words: long discourse.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke xx. 47. Þa forswelʓað wydywyna hus hiwʓende lang ʓebed.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 791. Quat bot es lang mi tale to draw.

c. 1483.  Caxton, Dialogues, v. 16/2. Dame what shall avaylle thenne Longe wordes?

c. 1500.  Melusine, 22. What shuld auayll yf herof I shuld make a longe tale?

1585.  Fetherstone, trans. Calvin’s Acts, xiii. 42. The Jewes who made boast of their long stock and race.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 305. And Grandsires Grandsons the long List contains.

1712.  P. Stanhope, in Lett. C’tess Suffolk (1824), I. 2. You do not know what you ask when you would have me write long letters.

1776.  Chester Chron., 16 May, 4/1. He spells long bead rolls of long words, which, when he comes to write his own thoughts, he finds himself very little better for.

1827.  H. Heugh, Jrnl., in Life, x. (1852), 203. Before the long hour of midnight all was hush.

1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, lx. He ain’t like old Veal, who is always bragging and using such long words, don’t you know?

1865.  Kingsley, Herew., II. vii. 106. That night the monks of Peterborough prayed in the minster till the long hours passed into the short.

1883.  Gilmour, Mongols (1884), 157. We had to wait a long time for a poor dinner, and pay a long bill for it when it came.

  b.  colloq. Of numbers, and of things numerically estimated: Large. Chiefly in long family, odds, price. Also in Card games, long suit (see quot. 1876); long trump (see quot. 1746).

1746.  Hoyle, Whist (ed. 6), 68. Long Trump. Means the having one or more Trumps in your Hand when all the rest are out. Ibid., 29. The long Trump being forced out of his Hand.

1818.  Sporting Mag., II. 22. The admirers of youth … added to the chance of long-odds proved eager takers.

1840.  E. E. Napier, Scenes & Sports For. Lands, I. v. 140. The natives are very partial to this breed, and give long prices for them.

1849.  Chambers’s Inform., II. 720/1. Cylinder machines are only suitable for long impressions.

1858.  Trollope, Dr. Thorne, II. x. 177. He was a prudent, discreet man, with a long family, averse to professional hostilities.

1876.  A. Campbell-Walker, Correct Card (1880), Gloss. 12. Long suit, one of which you hold originally more than three cards. The term is, therefore, indicative of strength in numbers.

1892.  J. Payn, Mod. Whittington, I. 177. He thinks I may pull off the long odds.

  6.  Of a period of time, of a process, state, or action, viewed as extending over a period of time: Having a great extent in duration. Long account: see ACCOUNT sb. 8 b.

c. 900.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. ix. (Schipper), 231. He … wæs mid langre adle laman leʓeres swiðe ʓehefiʓad.

c. 1330.  Arth. & Merl., 6779 (Kölbing). In þis sorweful time & lange.

c. 1330.  Spec. Gy Warw., 744. To sen … Þe longe lyff, þat is so god.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. Prol. 195. For better is a litel losse þan a longe sorwe.

c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 828. Thay maid ane lang battail, Ane hour of the day.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, lxv. 21. Than in frustrar is [all] ȝour lang leirning.

1530.  Palsgr., 612/2. To lyve in langour is no lyfe, but a longe dyeng.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron. Edw. IV., 229. Thus laie the englishmen in the feldes when the cold nightes began to waxe long.

1576.  Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 348. To blesse you with the long possession of your kingdome.

1619.  R. Waller, in Lismore Papers (1887), Ser. II. II. 228. I feare lest he be no longe lyffes man.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IV. 535. Enjoy, till I return, Short pleasures, for long woes are to succeed.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 711. His long Toils were forfeit for a Look.

1727–41.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Bishop, It is a long time that bishops have been distinguished from mere priests or presbyters.

1735.  Pope, Prol. Sat., 132. To help me thro’ this long disease, my Life.

1759.  Johnson, Idler, No. 45, ¶ 2. The general lampooner of mankind may find long exercise for his zeal.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), V. 331. There was a long and earnest contention between them.

1809.  Sheridan, in Sheridaniana (1826), 217. Let us make a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether.

1820.  Scott, Monast., xxiii. The thought, that I have sent this man to a long account, unhouseled and unshrived.

1900.  J. G. Frazer, Pausanias, etc. 52. Her brief noon of glory, and her long twilight of decrepitude and decay.

  b.  Long of life: = ‘of long life.’ Now rare.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., III. 156. Gif mann bið akenned on anre nihte ealdne monan, se bið lang lifes.

1591.  Sparry, trans. Cattan’s Geomancie, 97. They [children] shall be of good nature and complexion, and not long of life.

1812.  Mad. D’Arblay, Lett., 29 May, in Diary (1846), VI. 349. I am charmed to see how literature, as well as astronomy, is long of life.

1821.  Byron, Foscari, IV. i. 61. Discarded princes Are seldom long of life.

  7.  Long time, while, etc., are often used advb. (now, exc. poet., always preceded by a) with the sense ‘during a long time’ = LONG adv. 1. (Longtime, longwhile have occas. been written without division.) This long time or while: for a long time down to the present.

c. 900.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., I. xxv. (Schipper), 54. Þæt we forlætan þa wisan þe we langre tide … heoldon.

a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 437. He heold on to herien his heaðene maumez … long time of þe dei.

c. 1330.  Spec. Gy Warw., 62. Þe world þurw his foule gile Haþ me lad to longe while.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xli. (Agnes), 368. A prest … paulyne … had bene chaste langtyme.

c. 1425.  Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 1417. Syth they so long tyme haue made me so madde.

c. 1470.  Henryson, Tale of Dog, 68. They … held ane lang quhile disputatioun.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Blanchardyn, xxxix. 146. We … haue ben a longe espace wyth hym.

1513.  More, in Grafton, Chron. (1568), II. 759. They … thinke that he long time in king Edwardes life forethought to be king.

1557.  Grimald, in Tottel’s Misc. (Arb.), 101. For if, long time, one put this yron in vre.

1640.  trans. Verdere’s Rom. of Rom., I. xxxvi. 157. Certain Magicians, whom I have long time known.

1694.  L. Echard, Plautus’s Comedies, 196. I knew th’ owner o’ that portmantle this long time.

1738.  Swift, Fol. Convers., i. 7. How has your Lordship done this long time?

a. 1849.  J. C. Mangan, Poems (1859), 456. Dream and waking life … blended Longtime in the cavern of my soul.

1883.  R. W. Dixon, Mano, I. viii. 22. So that long time he fed upon false joy.

  b.  Similarly with preceding prep., † by, for, † in, of. (arch. or dial.) (Now always with a.)

1386.  Rolls of Parlt., III. 225/1. Many wronges … ydo to hem by longe tyme here before passed.

c. 1400.  [see OF prep. 53].

1440.  J. Shirley, Dethe K. James (1818), 17. The Kyng, heryng of long tyme no … stirryng of the traitours,… demyd that thay had all begone.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. V., 80. It is commonly sayd, that in long tyme al thinges continue not in one estate.

1579–80.  North, Plutarch, Theseus (1595), 19. Those who had hated him of a long time, had … a disdain & contempt to fear him any more.

1589.  Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xxiv. (Arb.), 285. He had not sene him wait of long time.

1629.  Maxwell, trans. Herodian (1635), 386. This Capellianus and Gordian had not beene friends of a long time.

1753.  Richardson, Grandison (1781), V. v. 34. But, Brother, my Lord, I have not been at church of a long time.

1833.  [see OF prep. 53].

Mod.  I have not seen him for a long while.

  8.  Having (more or less, or a specified) extension serially or temporally. (See also LENGER, LENGEST adjs.)

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 2173. Thare his sun liued langar lijf.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, iv. (Jacobus), 344. Þai þe croice before þam set, and he bristit but langar lat.

c. 1420.  Anturs of Arth., 314. I hafe na langare tyme mo tales to telle.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., V. i. 61. A play there is, my Lord, some ten words long.

1710.  W. Bishop, in Ballard MSS., XXXI. 57. He read a speech an Hour & half long.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 498, ¶ 2. Of how long standing this honour has been, I know not.

1824.  Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. iv. I will take such measures for silencing you as you shall remember the longest day you have to live.

1838.  Lytton, Alice, iii. The lesson must be longer than usual to day.

1868.  Lockyer, Elem. Astron., iii. § 18 (1879), 100. The longest time an eclipse of the sun can be total at any place is seven minutes.

1886.  Swinburne, Stud. Prose & Poetry (1894), 164. The two longest of the dramatic poems … bear upon them … the sign of heroic meditation.

  † b.  (All) the long day, night, etc. = ‘all the day, etc., long’ (see LONG adv. 6). Cf. LIVELONG a.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 10491. Þe king … hangede men gultles vor wraþþe al longe day.

c. 1375.  Cursor M., 12624 (Fairf.). Þi fader & I as many way soȝt þe a-boute þis lange day.

c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., Prol. 50. Walking in the mede … The longe day, thus walking in the grene.

1540–54.  Croke, 13 Ps. (Percy Soc.), 13. To trap me, yf they coulde, They studied wiles all the longe daye.

1559.  W. Cunningham, Cosmogr. Glasse, 36. All sterres with in this circle included, do nether rise, nor yet set, but turne round about the pole, all the longe nyght.

  ¶ c.  With mixed construction: see OF 39 b.

1592.  Nashe, P. Penilesse, 24 b. And hold you content, this Summer an vnder-meale of an afternoone long doth not amisse to exercise the eies withall.

1592.  Lyly, Midas, III. iii. Let me heare anie woman tell a tale of x lines long without it tend to loue.

1782.  Miss Burney, Cecilia, VI. v. A lecture of two hours long.

  9.  With implication of excessive duration: Continuing too long; lengthy, prolix, tedious; † also in phr. It, etc., were (too) long to, etc. Hence occas. of a speaker or writer.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 9. Oðre godere werke þe nu were long eou to telle.

a. 1300–40.  Cursor M., 950 (Gött.). In till þe wreched world to gang, Þar þu sal thinck þi lijf ful lang.

c. 1450.  Holland, Howlat, 34. All thar names to nevyn … It war prolixt and lang, and lenthing of space.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, xl. 5. This lang Lentern makis me lene.

1570.  Satir. Poems Reform., x. 71. It war lang to discerne The godly giftis that this our Sone did lerne.

1573.  L. Lloyd, Marrow of Hist. (1653), 279. What should I be long in this?

c. 1586.  Sidney, Arcadia, I. (1590), 17 b. But I am euer too long vppon him, when hee crosseth the waie of my speache.

1604.  E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, IV. xxxix. 315. It were long to report the … pleasant sportes they make.

1621.  in Crt. & Times Jas. I. (1849), II. 277. Though he were somewhat long in the explanation of these particulars, yet he had great attention.

1640.  trans. Verdere’s Rom. of Rom., III. iv. 13. He … thought it long till hee was in the Citie, that he might be conducted to his Lady.

1661.  Feltham, Lusoria, xli. in Resolves (1709), 604. A sheet of Bacon’s catch’d at more, we know, Than all sad Fox, long Holinshead or Stow.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 256. I cou’d be long in Precepts.

1704.  Pope, Disc. Past. Poetry, Wks. (Globe), 11. He is apt to be too long in his descriptions.

1875.  M. Arnold, Isa. xl.–lxvi. 31. I have been too long; but the present attempt is new, and needed explanation.

1876.  Trevelyan, Life Macaulay, I. vi. 421. He beguiled the long long languid leisure of the Calcutta afternoon.

  b.  Chiefly Sc. To think long: to grow weary or impatient. Const. for, to (do something); also, till (something happens).

[c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 183. Gief þe licame beð euel loð is heo þe sowle and hire þuncheð lang þat hie on him bi-leueð.]

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, IX. 1275. To folow him thai twa thocht neuyr lang.

1508.  Dunbar, Poems, v. 27. Sche … thoght ryght lang To se the ailhous beside, in till an euill hour.

c. 1530.  Ld. Berners, Arth. Lyt. Bryt., 445. I shal think tyll that season be come as long or longer than ye shal do.

1586.  Earl Leicester, in L. Corr. (Camden), 362. I feare it be thought longe till some well-instructed come here.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., IV. v. 41. Haue I thought long to see this mornings face, And doth it giue me such a sight as this?

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., IX. 192. Al in Scotland thocht lang for the Gouernour.

1599.  Greene, Alphonsus, IV. Wks. (Rtldg.), 240/1. And thinking long till that we be in fight.

1628.  Earl Manchester, in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), I. 267. The Lady mother thinks long to see them settled at their own house.

a. 1758.  Ramsay, Ep. Hamilton, ii. When kedgy carles think nae lang, When stoups and trunchers gingle.

1788.  Clara Reeve, Exiles, I. 195. We think long till we see you.

  10.  Qualifying a sb. denoting a period of time, a number, or quantity, to indicate an extent greater than that expressed by the sb.; also, in subjective sense, to indicate that the time is felt by the speaker to be excessive or unusual in duration. (Cf. 1 d.) Long years: used rhetorically for ‘many years.’ At (the) long last: see LAST a. 10 b. Long dozen, hundred, ton: see the sbs.

1592.  Stow, Ann. (an. 1563), 1111. Continuing in fight aboue a long hower.

1676.  Dryden, Aureng-z., I. i. Wks. 1883, V. 207. And two long hours in close debate were spent.

1681.  W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen., 839/2. ’Tis a long year since I saw you here.

1801.  Scott, Frederick & Alice. Seven long days, and seven long nights, Wild he wander’d.

1808.  Byron, When we two parted. If I should meet thee After long years, How should I greet thee? Ibid. (1824), Juan, XVI. lxxxi. And rise at nine in lieu of long eleven.

1871.  Carlyle, in Mrs. Carlyle’s Lett., III. 175. For long years I had ceased writing in my note-books.

1883.  R. W. Dixon, Mano, I. xiv. 46. Lips travelled over cheek and mouth by turn For a long hour.

  b.  Of the pulse: Making long beats, slow.

1898.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 929. In strict stenosis … we ordinarily have a long slow pulse.

  11.  That has continued or will continue in action, operation or obligation for a long period. Frequently applied to feelings, dispositions, etc., e.g., enmity, friendship; hence also, to persons in whom these are exhibited. Long memory: one that retains the recollection of events for a long period.

c. 1220.  Bestiary, 275. Ðe mire muneð vs mete to tilen, Long liuenoðe, ðis little wile ðe we on ðis werld wunen.

1535.  Coverdale, Jer. xv. 15. Receaue not my cause in thy longe wrath.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. IV., 31. Havyng also approved experience that the Duke of Burgoine wolde kepe no longer promise then he him selfe listed.

1573.  L. Lloyd, Marrow of Hist. (1653), 269. Their long and great enemy, Philip King of Macedonia.

1613.  Shaks., Hen. VIII., III. ii. 351. A long farewell to all my Greatnesse.

1626.  Bacon, Sylva, § 97. Juices of Stock-gilly-flowers,… applyed to the Wrests,… have cured long Agues.

1679.  Evelyn, Diary (1827), III. 10. This most … pious Lady, my long acquaintance.

1697.  Dryden, Æneid, IX. 102. Those Woods, that Holy Grove, my long delight.

1704.  Marlborough, Lett. & Disp. (1845), I. 238. It has been a long practice to send letters, under his covers, from unknown hands.

a. 1715.  Burnet, Own Time (1724), I. 380. He was a long, and very kind patron to me.

1726.  Swift, Gulliver, I. viii. I had a long lease of the Black Bull in Fetter-Lane.

1733.  Budgell, Bee, I. 37. Mr. John Mills, my long Acquaintance, living now in Drury-Lane.

1759.  Johnson, Rasselas, xxix. Long customs are not easily broken.

1819.  Metropolis (ed. 2), II. 228. The ridicule such conduct brought upon him among the thinking part of his long acquaintance.

1856.  Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, I. 2. If her kiss Had left a longer weight upon my lips.

a. 1867.  Lady Dufferin, Lament Irish Emigrant, 49. I’m biddin’ you a long farewell, My Mary.

1869.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), III. xiii. 314. The Celtic race has a long memory.

1882.  T. Mozley, Remin. Oriel Coll., I. 13. His recollections … contained some novelties, not to say surprises, to his longest friends.

  b.  (colloq. or proverbial.) A long word: one that indicates a long time.

1861.  Cornh. Mag., Dec., 685. Ye’re the biggest blag-guard my eyes have seen since I’ve been in London, and that’s saying a long word.

1883.  Standard, 28 July, 5/1. ‘Never’ is a long word.

  ¶ c.  ? Used for: Long-suffering. Obs. rare^–1.

1483.  Caxton, Gold. Leg., 320/1. He was a merueilous Rethour by eloquence, a susteynour and a berar up of the chirch by doctryne, shorte to hymself by humylyte and longe to other by charyte.

  12.  Of a point of time: Distant, remote. Now only in long date, and in the legal phrase a long day.

1437.  Rolls of Parlt., IV. 509/1. Yai byen notable substance of gode to apprest, and to long dayes.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., I. iv. 18. Bifore that eny positijf lawe of God … was ȝouen to the Iewis fro the long time of Adamys comyng out of Paradijs into the tyme … of Abraham.

c. 1450.  Holland, Howlat, 425. Thar lordschipe of sa lang dait.

1596.  Spenser, Prothalamion, 144. Here fits not well Olde woes, but ioyes, to tell Against the bridale daye, which is not long.

1614.  Selden, Titles Hon., 261. That its deriud from Βαρύς, I must take long day to beleeu.

1632.  Massinger, City Madam, I. iii. You must give me longer day.

1709.  Mrs. Manley, Secret Mem. (1736), II. 92. Is his Pimishment deferr’d to a long Hereafter?

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa (1811), II. 126. A long day, I doubt, will not be permitted me.

1776.  Lett., in Gentl. Mag. (1792), 14/1. He has paid me with a bond … due in October 1777, which is a long date.

1787.  T. Jefferson, Writ. (1859), II. 333. To obtain on the new loans a much longer day for the reimbursement of the principal.

1846.  Daily News, 21 Jan., 4/6. Bills on Amsterdam at long, or 3 months’ date, found no takers.

  b.  Of bills, promissory notes, etc.: Of long date, having a long time to run.

1861.  Goschen, For. Exch., 87. Rates given for long paper, as compared with those for bills on demand.

  13.  a. Phonetics and Prosody. Applied to a vowel (in mod. use also to a consonant) when its utterance has the greater of the two measures of duration that are recognized in the ordinary classification of speech-sounds. Also, in Prosody, of a syllable: Belonging to that one of the two classes which is supposed to be distinguished from the other by occupying a longer time in utterance. (Opposed to short.) Long mark: the mark (¯) placed over a vowel letter to indicate long quantity.

  In Greek and Latin meter, a syllable is reckoned long (1) when it contains a long vowel or a diphthong, and (2) when its vowel is followed by more than one consonant (to the latter rule there are certain exceptions). A short syllable is conventionally supposed to occupy one time-unit (mora) in utterance, and a long syllable two. The distinction between the two classes of syllables, with criteria nearly identical with those of Gr. and Latin, is recognized in the prosody of many other peoples; in Skr. the equivalents of ‘long’ and ‘short’ are used of vowels only, syllables being classed as ‘heavy’ and ‘light.’

  Various inaccurate uses of the terms long and short were formerly almost universal in Eng., and are still common. (1) The vowel of a ‘long’ syllable, if ‘naturally’ short, was said to be ‘long by position.’ (2) By a confusion between the principles of quantitative and those of accentual verse, the stressed syllables, on the periodical recurrence of which the rhythm of English verse depends, were said to be ‘long,’ and the unstressed syllables ‘short.’ (3) In ordinary language ‘the long a, e, i, o, or u’ denotes that sound of the letter which is used as its alphabetical name, while ‘the short a, e, i, o, or u’ denotes the sound which the letter most commonly has in a stressed short syllable (in the notation used in this Dictionary, respectively æ, e, i, ρ, v).

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gram., iv. (Z.), 37. On langne o ʓeendiað grecisce naman feminini generis.

1412–20.  Lydg., Chron. Troy, ii. 184. I took none hede noþer of short ne long.

1530.  Palsgr., Introd. 21. A vowell shalbe … longe or short in his pronounciation.

1575.  Gascoigne, Eng. Verse (Arb.), 33. The graue accent … maketh that sillable long wherevpon it is placed.

1582.  Stanyhurst, Æneis (Arb.), 11. Thee first of briefly wyth vs must bee long. Ibid., 12. Although yt [sc. the conjunction and] bee long by position.

1585.  Jas. I., Ess. Poesie (Arb.), 55. I haue markit the lang fute with this mark, ¯.

1668.  Wilkins, Real Char., III. xi. 364. Suppose a long Vowel to be divided into two parts; as Bo-ote.

1807.  Robinson, Archæol. Græca, V. xxiii. 535. In the Greek language every syllable was short or long.

1869.  A. J. Ellis, E. E. Pronunc., I. 13. The use … of the long mark (¯) for the lengthening of vowels generally short.

  b.  Mus. Of a note: Occupying a more than average time, or a specified time, in being sounded. (Cf. 6 and 8.)

1818.  T. Busby, Grammar Mus., 69. If a Minim is only half as long as a Semibreve, and a Crotchet but half the length of a Minim, a Crotchet is only one quarter as long as a Semibreve.

  14.  Comm. Said of the market (esp. in the cotton trade) when consumers have provided against an anticipated scarcity by large contracts in advance. See quot. 1859. Phrase, to go (heavily) long.

1859.  Bartlett, Dict. Amer., Long and short. Broker’s terms. ‘Long’ means when a man has bought stock on time, which he can call for at any day he chooses. He is also said to be ‘long’ when he holds a good deal.

Mod. Newspaper.  The spinners had gone heavily long, and consequently did not need to buy except in very small quantities. It was found that selling was impossible except at constantly declining prices; that the market was heavily long; and that there was no short interest of any moment.

  III.  In Combination.

  15.  In concord with sbs., forming combinations used attributively or quasi-adj., as long-berry, -day, -distance, -focus, -gown, -journey, -pod, -quantity, -range, -sentence, -span.

1886.  Daily News, 16 Sept., 2/5. Coffee.—140 packages Mocha, *longberry, 100s. Ibid. (1891), 10 Feb., 2/8. [Wheats] To-day 39s. 6d. was required for longberry.

1892.  Labour Commission, Gloss., *Long-day men.

1887.  Shearman, Athletics (Badm. Libr.), 101. In training for *long-distance races, in which category we should place those at a mile and upwards, [etc.]. Ibid., 103. The long-distance runner is rarely over middle height.

1890.  Anthony’s Photogr. Bull., III. 327. Another use of *long focus lenses is the taking of street groups from a distance.

1677.  Sedley, Antony & Cl., IV. i. Dull *long-gown statesmen.

1880.  Sir E. Reed, Japan, II. 310. *Long-journey travellers.

1898.  Engineering Mag., XVI. 80. One of the Portsmouth, or other long-journey, trains.

1846.  J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), I. 89. *Long-pod [Bean]—The most abundant bearer.

1872.  Young Gentleman’s Mag., 651/2. A *long-quantity monosyllable is introduced.

1873.  W. Cory, Lett. & Jrnls. (1897), 329. An American here shouts with a *long-range voice.

1902.  Edin. Rev., April, 291. Into these wars long-range infantry fire seldom entered.

1889.  ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Robbery under Arms, xxiii. We were *‘long sentence men.’

1890.  W. J. Gordon, Foundry, 41. Every *long-span bridge in the world.

  16.  Parasynthetic derivatives in -ED², unlimited in number, as long-armed, -backed, -bearded, etc.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist., IV. 206. The Gibbon, so called by Buffon, or the *Long Armed Ape.

1888.  Barrie, Auld Licht Idylls, xii. (1902), 87/1. A lank long-armed man.

1611.  Cotgr., s.v. Eschine, Longue eschine,… *long-backt, or ill shaped, loobie.

1787.  ‘G. Gambado,’ Acad. Horsemen (1809), 32. A long back’d horse, who throws his saddle well forward.

1837.  Landor, Pentameron, 5th Day’s Interview, Wks. 1853, II. 348/1. Sitting bolt-upright in that long-backed arm-chair.

1778.  Da Costa, Brit. Conch., 133. *Long-beaked Whelkes.

1573.  L. Lloyd, Marrow of Hist. (1653), 165. Those that were long haired or *long bearded.

1679.  Dryden & Lee, Œdipus, II. 18. Long-bearded Comets.

c. 1806.  Mrs. Sherwood, in Life, xxi. (1847), 356. The schoolmaster … was generally a long-bearded, dry old man.

1590.  Sir J. Smyth, Disc. Weapons, 3. Verie well armed with some kind of head-peece, a collar, a deformed high and *long bellied breast.

1892.  E. Reeves, Homeward Bound, 212. Dirty, dark, *long-berried wheat, 1d. per pound.

1831.  A. Wilson & Bonaparte, Amer. Ornith., III. 60. The *long-billed curlew;… the bill is eight inches long.

1696.  Lond. Gaz., No. 3163/4. W. L. … low of stature, somewhat *long Bodied, and very short Legg’d.

1864.  A. McKay, Hist. Kilmarnock (1880), 299. [During a flood in a through-town river] a long-bodied cart drifted towards him.

1646–8.  G. Daniel, Poems, Wks. 1878, I. 213. My *long-brail’d Pineons, (clumsye and vnapt) I cannot Spread.

1884.  Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner. & Ferns, 388. The *long-celled initial strands of the vascular bundles.

1742.  Young, Nt. Th., IX. 1454. Ev’ry link Of that *long-chain’d succession is so frail.

1777.  Pennant, Zool., IV. 5. Cancer. Crab…. Cassivelaunus. *Long-clawed.

1812.  Shelley, in Lady Shelley, Mem. (1859), 44. I am one of those formidable and long-clawed animals called a man.

1813.  Vancouver, Agric. Devon, 352. The washed wool of all the *Longcoated sheep, is sold from 14d. to 15d. per pound.

1861.  W. F. Collier, Hist. Eng. Lit., 123. Hordes of long-coated peasants gathered round Kilcolman.

1657.  W. Coles, Adam in Eden, cxvii. After which come large and *long-crested, black-shining seed.

1593.  Shaks., Lucr., cclviii. Let my unsounded self, supposed a fool, Now set thy *long-experienced wit to school.

a. 1700.  Dryden, Ovid’s Met., X. Cinyras & Myrrha, 192. My long-experienc’d Age shall be your Guide.

1591.  Percivall, Sp. Dict., Cariluengo, *long faced.

1883.  W. Haslam, ‘Yet Not I,’ 222. He was looking well and happy, not at all long-faced and lanky.

1879.  R. H. Elliot, Written on their Foreheads, I. 14. How is it … that the Scotch have got a greater amount of *long-facedness than the people of the east coast of England.

1678.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1272/4. He is … purblind, between *long and round favoured.

1843.  G. P. R. James, Forest Days, iv. The pen where the fat, *long-fleeced ram was confined.

1861.  Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., V. 184. Order. Hydrocharideæ … (*Long-flowered Anacharis).

1552.  Huloet, *Longe foted, compernis.

1652.  Gaule, Magastrom., 186. The long footed are fraudulent and short footed sudden.

1832.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. V. 60. A very *long-fronted, very regular, very ugly brick house.

1621.  Wither, Motto, A 8 b. I haue no neede of these *long-gowned warriors.

1552.  Huloet, *Longe heared, acrocomus.

1781.  Gibbon, Decl. & F., xxx. III. 150. A military council was assembled of the long-haired chiefs of the Gothic nation.

1872.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), IV. xvii. 92. The … long-haired children of the north.

1800.  trans. Lagrange’s Chem., II. 37. Remove the oxide with a *long-handled iron spoon.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xi. 70. Simond could reach this snow with his long-handled axe.

1687.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2292/4. A Roan Gelding … *long heel’d before.

1864.  Bowen, Logic, viii. 236. Since he [negro] has many other [attributes], such as being long-heeled, &c.

1777.  Pennant, Zool., IV. 3. Cancer. Crab…. Longicornis. *Longhorned.

1846.  M’Culloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), I. 165. The Dishly breed of long-horned cattle.

1727.  Bailey, vol. II., *Long Jointed [spoken of a Horse], is one whose Pastern is slender and pliant.

c. 1605.  Drayton, Man in Moone, 199. *Long leau’d willow on whose bending spray, The pide kings-fisher … sat.

1861.  Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., V. 95. Long-leaved Sallow.

1838.  Dickens, O. Twist, xlii. One of those *long limbed … people, to whom it is difficult to assign any precise age.

1577.  trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 381. They were called Nazarites, as who should saie, *long locked or shagge haired people.

1871.  R. Ellis, trans. Catullus, xxxvii. 17. Peerless paragon of the tribe long-lock’d.

1877.  W. Morris, in Mackail, Life (1899), I. 359. These unreasonable Irish still remember it all, so *long-memoried they are!

1681.  Grew, Musæum, 125. The *long-mouth’d Wilk, Murex Labris parallelis.

1685.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2036/8. A light dapple Gray Gelding,… *long pasternd,… and a little Mare-fac’d.

1688.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2361/4. A strawberry Mare, with a shorn Mane,… *long quarter’d, and six years old.

1693.  Dryden, Persius Sat. (1697), 414. He who in his Line, can chine the *long-ribb’d Appennine.

1820.  Scott, Abbot, viii. motto, The long-ribb’d aisles are burst and shrunk.

1622.  Drayton, Poly-olb., xxvii. 44. That *long-ridg’d Rocke, her fathers high renowne.

1683.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1805/4. Long Visaged, and a long ridged Nose.

1752.  Fielding, Amelia, Wks. 1775, XI. 65. Women and the clergy are upon the same footing, The *long-robed gentry are exempted from the laws of honour.

1894.  [Gertrude L. Bell], Safar nameh. Persian Pict., 158–9. The streets narrowed and became more populous—thronged, indeed, with long-robed men and shrouded women.

1871.  Palgrave, Lyr. Poems, 117. And *long-roof’d abbey in the dell.

1877.  J. D. Chambers, Divine Worship, 280. Plain *long-shafted Crosses without any figure.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, I. 310. Marke what *long-shanked legs aboue ordinary she [Nature] hath giuen unto them [gnats].

1835–6.  Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 653/1. The *long-shaped dorsal vessel or heart gives off arteries to both sides.

1898.  ‘H. S. Merriman,’ Roden’s Corner, xvii. 176. A long-shaped lantern.

1902.  Speaker, 25 Jan., 480/1. The Iberian was a short, dark, *long-skulled man.

1591.  Percivall, Sp. Dict., Mangado, *long sleeved.

a. 1658.  Cleveland, Obsequies, 105, Wks. (1687), 218. Teazers of Doctrines, which in long sleev’d Prose Run down a Sermon all upon the Nose.

1816.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol. (1843), I. 378. The beautiful weevils or *long-snouted beetles.

1785.  Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xxvii. (1794), 417. You may call it *long spurred, or Sweet Orchis.

1882.  Garden, 13 May, 323/3. [The] Long-spurred Violet.

1791.  Wolcot (P. Pindar), Remonstrance, Wks. 1812, II. 455. Night’s *long-staff’d Guardian to him steals.

1847.  W. E. Steele, Field Bot., 203. Barren spike sometimes 1; fertile *long-stalked.

1855.  W. S. Dallas, Syst. Nat. Hist., Zool., I. 314. The Long-stalked Crab (Podophthalmus).

1772.  Jackson, in Phil. Trans., LXIII. 6. *Long or short stapled isinglass.

1854.  Hawthorne, Eng. Note-Bks. (1883), I. 571. The long-stapled cotton.

1859.  G. Meredith, R. Feverel, xxx. He strolled on beneath the *long-stemmed trees.

1898.  R. Kipling, in Morn. Post, Nov., 5/2. The *long-stocked port-anchor.

1863.  Darwin, in Reader, 14 Feb. *Long-styled plants.

1636.  C. Butler, Princ. Mus., I. iii. § 3. 53. A *long-timed Note.

1807.  W. Irving, Salmag. (1824), 313. The unseemly luxury of *long-toed shoes.

1577.  Dee, Relat. Spir., I. (1659), 73. He is lean and *long-visaged.

1860.  Dickens, Lett., 2 Jan. (1880), II. 109. Long-visaged prophets.

1616.  Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, 715. The *long-winged hawkes do properly belong into the lure.

1894.  Le Conte, in Pop. Sci. Monthly, XLIV. 752. In long-winged birds … the ability to rise quickly … is sacrificed.

1805.  Luccock, Nat. Wool, 184. *Long-wooled sheep.

1824.  J. Symmons, trans. Æschylus’ Agamemnon, 105.

  17.  Combinations with participles in which long is used as a complement, as long-docked, -extended, -grown, -projected, -protended, -spun, -thrown; long-combing, -descending, -growing, -hanging, -streaming, -succeeding.

1846.  M’Culloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), I. 171. The native sheep of the Cotswold Hills … produce coarse *long-combing wool.

1693.  J. Dryden, in D.’s Juvenal, xiv. (1697), 356. A *long-descending Healthful Progeny.

1838.  Lytton, Leila, II. iii. Long-descending robes of embroidered purple.

1688.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2379/4. Lost…, a … Coach Gelding,… with a *long dock’d Tail.

1718.  Prior, Solomon, II. 30. The pillars *long extended rows.

1890.  W. A. Wallace, Only a Sister? 41. A faint rumble … at *longer-growing intervals.

1757.  Dyer, Fleece, II. 446. ’Tis the comber’s lock, The soft, the snow-white, and the *long-grown flake.

1597.  A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 25/1. The foresayed *longe hanginge pallate.

1720.  Pope, Iliad, XVIII. 251. With *long-projected Beams the Seas are bright. Ibid. (1718), XVI. 981. Euphorbus … Swift withdrew the *long-protended Wood.

1675.  Cocker, Morals, 21. Which before time has run his *long-spun Race.

1761–2.  Hume, Hist. Eng. (1806), IV. lxii. 668. Long-spun allegories, distant allusions, and forced conceits.

1882.  Jas. Walker, Jaunt to Auld Reekie, etc., 38. He is blest wi’ lang-spun tacks o’ health and life.

1735.  Somerville, Chase, I. 352. The panting Chace … Leaves a *long-streaming Trail behind.

1720.  Pope, Iliad, XVII. 306. The *long-succeeding Numbers who can name?

1859.  G. Meredith, R. Feverel, xx. Over the open, ’tis a race with the *long-thrown shadows.

  18.  Special combinations and collocations: long annuities, a class of British Government annuities that expired in 1860; long-axed a., having a long axis; † long-bones, a nickname for a long-legged person; long-bowls, (a) the game of ninepins; (b) ‘a game much used in Angus, in which heavy leaden bullets are thrown from the hand’ (Jam.); hence long-bowling; † long-box, the box formerly used by hawkers of books; long-bullets = long-bowls (b); long-butt Billiards, a cue specially adapted to reach a ball lying beyond the range of the half-butt; long card, (a) (see quot. 1862); (b) a card of unusual length, used in conjuring tricks; long clay colloq. = CHURCHWARDEN 3; long-clothes, the garments of a baby in arms; long-coach (see quot. 1807); † long-cork slang, claret, so called from the length of the corks used; long-crop, herbage long enough to give an animal a good bite; † long-cutler, ? a maker of long knives; long-dated a., † (a) that has existed from a remote date; (b) extending to a distant date in the future; chiefly of an acceptance, falling due at a distant date; long division (see DIVISION 5 a); long-drop, a form of gallows in which a trap-door is withdrawn from under the feet of the person to be executed; long Eliza, a ‘blue and white’ Chinese vase, ornamented with tall female figures; long-ells, a kind of coarse woollen; † long fifteens slang, ? some class of lawyers; long finger, the middle finger; also pl. the three middle fingers; long firm (see FIRM sb. 2 d); long-fly Baseball (see quot.); long-fours, long candles, four of which went to the pound; † Long Friday = GOOD FRIDAY; † long-gig, a sort of top; long grain = GRAIN sb. 15; long-harness Weaving (see quot.); long-home (see HOME sb.¹ 4); long-house, † (a) a privy (obs.); (b) a house of unusual length, spec. the communal dwelling of the Iroquois and other American Indians; long-jawed a. (see quot.); long jump (see JUMP sb.¹ 1 b; esp. as one of the ‘events’ of an athletic contest); hence long-jumper, long-jumping; long-leave, -legger (see quots.); long-lick U.S. slang, molasses (cf. long-sugar); † long-little, something very short or small; long-lugged a. Sc., having long ears; fig. eager to listen to secrets or scandal; long-lunged a. = LONG-WINDED 2; † long-man, the middle finger; long measure, (a) lineal measure, the measure of length; (b) a table of lineal measures; (c) = next; long metre, a hymn-stanza of four lines, each containing eight syllables; † long-minded a., patient; † long-mood a., of patient mind, long-suffering; long-nebbed a. Sc., (a) lit. long-nosed; (of a stick) long-pointed; (b) fig. curious, prying; also, making a show of learning, pedantic; long-netting, the process of catching fish with a long net; long-nines, a kind of long clay tobacco-pipe; long oyster, the sea crayfish (Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.); Long Parliament, the Parliament which sat from Nov. 1640 to March 1653, was restored for a short time in 1659 and finally dissolved in 1660; also, the second Parliament of Charles II. (1661–1678); long-pig, a transl. of a cannibal’s name for human flesh; also attrib.; long plane (see quot. 1842); long prayer, in Congregational worship, the chief prayer, offered after the Scripture lessons and before the sermon; long-primer Printing (see PRIMER); long-room, an assembly room in a private house or public building; spec. in the Custom House at London, the large hall in which custom-house and other dues are paid; long-rope, a skipping game, in which a rope of considerable length is turned by two of the players, one at each end, while the others spring over it as it nears the ground; long sea, short for long sea passage; also attrib.; long service, (a) Naut. (see quot.); (b) Mil., ‘the maximum period a recruit can enlist for in any branch of the service, viz. for 12 years’ (Voyle); also attrib.; long-shaded, -shadowed adjs., casting a long shade or shadow, a rendering of Gr. δολιχόδκιος; long ship Hist., a ship of considerable length, built to accommodate a large number of rowers; a ship of war, a galley; = L. navis longa; long-short, (a) U.S., ‘a gown somewhat shorter than a petticoat, worn by women when doing household work’ (Bartlett); (b) a trochaic verse (nonce-use); long-shot, (a) a shot fired at a distance; (b) a distant range; also attrib.; long sight, capacity for seeing distant objects; also, the defect of sight by which only distant objects are seen distinctly; long-sixes, long candles, six of which went to the pound (cf. long-fours); long-sleever Austral. slang, a tall glass; long-slide Steam-engine (see quot.); long-splintery a., consisting of long splinters; † long square Geom., an oblong rectangle; also attrib.; † long-staff, a long cudgel, ? = QUARTER-STAFF; also attrib.; long-staple a. (see quot.); long stitch (see quot.); long-stone, a menhir; long-stroke, (a) Naut. (see quot. 1867); (b) a stroke of a piston or pump rod, which is longer than the average; also attrib.; long sugar U.S., molasses; long-sweetening U.S., (a) molasses; (b) (see quot.); long sword (See SWORD); long-tackle Naut. (see quot.); also attrib. in long-tackle-block; † long-tennis, some form of tennis (cf. F. longue paume, tennis played in an open court); long-threads, warp; long-timbers (see quot.); long-time a., that has been such for a long time; long-togs Naut., landsmen’s clothes (Smyth); Long Vacation, summer vacation at the Law-courts and Universities, so called in distinction from the Christmas and Easter vacations; also attrib.; long voyage (see quot.); long-wall Coal-mining, used attrib. (rarely advb.), to imply a particular method of extracting coal (see quot. 1851); † long-warped a., oblong (cf. OE. langwyrpe in Techmer’s Zeitschr., II. 119; long way = long-wall; long whist (see WHIST sb.); † long-willed a., long suffering; long-wool, (a) long-stapled wool, suitable for combing or carding; (b) a long-woolled sheep; also attrib.; long writ = prerogative writ (see PREROGATIVE).

1809.  R. Langford, Introd. Trade, 57. *Long annuities 16¹/₂ means, that an annuity of 100l. from the present time to the year 1860, will cost … 16¹/₂ years’ purchase; at which time they will expire. This stock was originally for 99 years.

1888.  Buxton, Finance & Politics, I. 189, note. The ‘Long Annuities’ dated from 1780. Their actual amount in 1860 was £1,200,000.

1896.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., I. 33. The deep orbit and the *long-axed eyeball going naturally with the long head.

c. 1485.  Digby Myst. (1882), III. 190. Ye *langbaynnes, loselles, for-sake ȝe þat word!

1497.  Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. (1877), I. 332. Item, the samyn nycht, in Sanctandrois, to the King to play at the *lang bowlis xviij.s.

1801.  Strutt, Sports & Past., III. vii. 201. *Long-bowling … was performed in a narrow enclosure,… and at the further end was placed a square frame with nine small pins upon it: at these pins the players bowled in succession.

1876.  Encycl. Brit., IV. 180/1. After the suppression of alleys ‘Long bowling,’ or ‘Dutch rubbers’ was practised for a short time.

a. 1643.  Cartwright, Ordinary, III. v. (1651), 52. I shall live to see thee Stand in a Play-house doore with thy *long box, Thy half-crown Library, and cry small Books.

1728.  Swift, Past. Dialogue, 33. When you saw Tady at *long-bullets play.

1792.  S. Burwood, Life P. Skelton (1816), 282. He challenged any of them to play long-bullets with him…. The little fellow … took the bullet, and threw it about twice as far as Skelton.

1873.  Bennett & ‘Cavendish,’ Billiards, 27. The *long-butt is used in the same way when the ball cannot be reached with the half-butt.

1862.  ‘Cavendish,’ Whist (1870), 29. *Long cards are cards of a suit remaining in one hand after the remainder of the suit is played.

1872.  Young Gentleman’s Mag., 698/2. Packs with a long card can be obtained at many of the conjuring depôts.

1861.  Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xxi. He is churchwarden at home, and can’t smoke anything but a *long clay.

1862.  Sala, Accepted Addr., 85. It was settled almost before he was out of *long-clothes, that he was to be a carpenter.

1779.  G. Keate, Sketches fr. Nat. (1790), I. 26. The Margate *Long-Coach was drawn up in the yard, and the passengers already seated in it.

1807.  Goede, Stranger Eng., III. 59. Stage-coaches … others in form of a cylinder, are called long-coaches.

1829.  Marryat, F. Mildmay, xiv. The young officer might like a drop o’ *long cork; bring us … one o’ they claret bottles.

1878.  J. Inglis, Sport & W., xi. 121. They generally betake themselves then to some patch of grass or *long-crop outside the jungle.

1720.  Lond. Gaz., No. 5881/5. George Cottrell,… *Long-cuttler.

1678.  Norris, Coll. Misc. (1699), 213. He must be the more unwilling to break off a *long-dated Innocence, for the unsatisfying pleasure of a moment.

1866.  Crump, Banking, vii. 153. Long-dated bills will sometimes command a higher price than shorter dates.

1883.  Manch. Exam., 12 Dec., 5/1. The work-people no doubt act from a long-dated regard for their own interests.

1827.  Hutton, Course Math., I. 43. Divide by the whole divisor at once, after the manner of *Long division.

1833.  M. Scott, Tom Cringle, xi. (1859), 244. The lumbering flap of the *long drop was heard.

1884.  Pall Mall Gaz., 4 Dec., 6/1. *Long Elizas (the trade name for certain blue and white vases ornamented with figures of tall, thin China-women) is a name derived undoubtedly from the German or Dutch.

1753.  Hanway, Trav. (1762), I. V. lxiv. 292. From Holland they reckon one bale of maghoot, one of shalloons, and one of *long ells, to ten bales of begrest.

1843.  Penny Cycl., XXVII. 555/2. Druggets and long-ells … are made in Devon and Cornwall.

1611.  L. Barry, Ram Alley, II. i. C 4. Why so, these are tricks of the *long fifteenes, To giue counsell, and to take fees on both sides.

c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 309/336. He pult forth is felawe, þe *‘longue finger,’ þat sit him next.

1486.  Bk. St. Albans, B v b. Betwene the longe fyngre and the leche fyngre.

1848.  Rimbault, Pianoforte, 45. Every change is made by passing the thumb under the long fingers, or the long fingers over the thumb.

1891.  N. Crane, Baseball, 81. *Long fly, a fly ball which is batted to the out-field.

1832.  Boston, etc. Herald, 18 Sept., 1/4. Making long-sixes burn as brightly as *long-fours.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., John xviii. 1, marg. Ðes passio ʓe-byreð on *langa frigadæʓ.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 95. Crepe to cruche on lange fridai.

1636.  Davenant, Wits, IV. ii. Dram. Wks. 1872, II. 199. When I was young, I was arrested for a stale commodity Of nut-crackers, *long-gigs, and casting-tops.

1884.  Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner. & Ferns, 471. The longitudinal course of the single elements … appearing in the direction of the *‘long grain’ of the wood and bast.

1782.  Encycl. Brit., 6711/2. The *long-harness [of a ribbon-loom] are the front-reeds, by which the figure is raised.

1622.  Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., II. 355. To make wads and wisps for those that go to the *Long-house (you know what I meane).

1646.  Sir J. Temple, Irish Rebell., 4. He set up a long house, made of smoothed wattles.

1774.  D. Jones, Jrnl. 2 Visits to Indians (1865), 76. They proceed to bind them [captives] naked to the post in the long house.

1826.  J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, Pref. (1850). Where the ‘long house,’ or Great Council Fire, of the nation was universally admitted to be established.

1894.  Fiske, Hist. U.S., i. 5. Ground-plan of Iroquois Long-house.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Long-jawed, the state of rope when its strands are straightened by being much strained and untwisted, and from its pliability will coil both ways.

1882.  Besant, Revolt of Man, vi. 160. It is better to advance the knowledge of the world one inch than to win the *long-jump with two-and-twenty feet.

1887.  Shearman, Athletics (Badm. Libr.), 149. The *long-jumper, like the sprinter, may be a man of almost any size or weight.

1882.  Society, 7 Oct., 23/1. As a man he has done extraordinary work at *long-jumping, sprinting, and hurdle-racing.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Long leave, permission to visit friends at a distance. Ibid., *Long leggers, lean schooners, longer than ordinary proportion to breadth, swift.

1898.  F. T. Bullen, Cruise ‘Cachalot’ (1900), i. 6. A pot of something sweetened with *‘longlick’ (molasses) made an apology for a meal.

1653.  Fisher, Baby Baptism, 7. There was but a very *long-little, in comparison of what else might have been delivered.

1815.  Scott, Guy M., xlv. While that *lang-lugged limmer o’ a lass is gaun flisking in and out o’ the room.

1901.  N. Munro, in Blackw. Mag., March, 355/1. It’s a gossiping community this, long-lugged and scandal-loving.

1659.  Howell, Lex., Prov., Ded. to Philologers. A significant … Proverb … works upon the Intellectuals … more then a … *long-lungd Sermon.

1815.  Byron, To Moore, 12 June. The villain is a … long-lunged orator.

c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 308/313. *‘Longueman’ hatte þe midleste for he longuest is.

a. 1475.  Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 753/1. Hic medius, the longman.

1709.  J. Ward, Yng. Math. Guide, I. iii. (1734), 33. The least Part of a *Long Measure was at First a Barly Corn.

1801.  W. Dupré, Neolog. Fr. Dict., 131. Hectomètre … in the long measure of the new republican division, is equal to one hundred metres.

1718.  *Long metre [see COMMON a. 19 b].

1618.  S. Ward, Iethro’s Iustice (1627), 22. [A judge] must be … *long-minded, to endure the … homelinesse of common people in giving evidence.

a. 1300.  E. E. Psalter cii. 8. Laverd … milde-herted and *lang-mode.

1720.  Ramsay, Rise & Fall of Stocks, 32. Impos’d on by *lang-nebbit juglers Stock-jobbers, brokers [etc.].

1823.  Hogg, Sheph. Cal. (1829), I. 20. A large lang nibbit staff.

1881.  Lucy B. Walford, Dick Netherby, in Gd. Words, 332/2. What wi’ her lang-nebbit English words I kenna gif my head or my heels is boon-most.

1893.  J. Watson, Conf. Poacher, 96. In *‘long-netting’ the net is dragged by a man on each side, a third wading after to lift it over the stakes.

1858.  O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t. (1883), 40. They were garnered by stable-boys smoking *long-nines.

1659.  England’s Conf., 8. Their old hackney drudges of the *Long Parliament.

1678.  Luttrell, Brief Rel., 9 Nov. (1857), I. 3. Though this parliament [sc. that then in session] was called the long parliament, yet [etc.].

1827.  Hallam, Const. Hist. (1876), II. x. 293. The long parliament, in the year 1641, had established, in its most essential parts, our existing constitution.

1852.  Mundy, Our Antipodes (1857), 181. No more *‘long-pig’ for him [the Maori]!

1901.  Westm. Gaz., 14 May, 3/1. As a matter of fact, ‘long-pig’ orgies are not common.

1679.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 169. *Long-Plain, The same that Joyners call a Joynter.

1842.  Gwilt, Encycl. Archit., § 2102. The long plane is … used when a piece of stuff is to be tried up very straight. It is longer and broader than the trying plane.

1897.  Times, 22 April, 12/3. The *‘long prayer’ … has been not only shortened but improved in quality.

1722.  De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 19. He led me into the *long-room at the custom-house.

1759.  Compl. Lett.-writer (ed. 6), 228. I hear perpetually of Miss Evelyn’s praises at the long-room.

1771.  Smollett, Humph. Cl., To Miss Willis, 6 April. There is a long-room for breakfasting and dancing.

1819.  Gentl. Mag., 529. His regularity … extended from the Treasury to the Long-room.

1891.  F. W. Newman, Cdl. Newman, 2. Our boys, in large bands, enjoyed *Long Rope—with us a glorious game.

1680.  J. Aubrey, in Lett. Eminent Persons (1813), III. 439. He was drowned goeing to Plymouth by *long sea.

1731.  Gentl. Mag., I. 353. The Projector has already made one Trip to try Experiments, and was in his passage to London by Long-Sea to make a further Proof.

1861.  Canning, in Hare, Two Noble Lives (1893), III. 148. In a few weeks we shall be beginning to pack off our long-sea goods.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Long-service, a cable properly served to prevent chafing under particular use.

1874.  Punch, 4 June, 3/1. Lord Strathnairn charged the late Secretary for War with bad faith, in not enlisting men for short and long service together.

1897.  Westm. Gaz., 27 Sept., 3/2. Had the old long-service system continued in force.

1675.  Hobbes, Odyssey (1677), 237. Next the dogs he went, And in his hand shook a *longshaded spear.

1848.  Buckley, Iliad, 123. Brandishing his *long-shadowed spear.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., I. 96. The which [Saxons] came in three *long Shippes or Hulkes.

1799.  Naval Chron., II. 182. Built after the model of long Ships, or Men of War.

1886.  Corbett, Fall of Asgard, I. 268. A large vessel shot out from behind the point. It was a long-ship of twenty benches.

1851.  S. Judd, Margaret, I. iii. 11. Her dress was a blue-striped linen short-gown wrapper, or *long-short, a coarse yellow petticoat, and checked apron.

a. 1881.  O. W. Holmes, Old Vol. Life, ix. The first two in iambics, or short-longs, the last in trochaics or long-shorts.

1791.  Hist. Eur., in Ann. Reg., 185/1. What our sea men call a *long shot fire is the most destructive of any to the rigging of ships.

1814.  Scott, Lett. to Southey, 17 June. I should be tempted to take a long shot at him [Buonaparte] in his retreat to Elba.

1853.  Kane, Grinnell Exp., xl. (1856), 362. I ventured the ice, crawled on my belly, and reached long-shot distance.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Long-shot, a distant range. It is also used to express a long way; a far-fetched explanation; something incredible.

1873.  Young Gentl. Mag., July, 490. This did not, however, suit her long-shot tactics.

1844.  Hoblyn, Dict. Med., *Long sight,… the dysopia proximorum of Cullen.

1898.  Watts-Dunton, Aylwin (1900), 109/2. His companions had the usual long-sight of agriculturists.

1802.  Sporting Mag., XX. 15. Some have gone so far as to illuminate our discussions with tens instead of *long-sixes.

1864.  Trevelyan, Compet. Wallah (1866), 283. Peasants who had never tasted anything daintier than a rushlight now had their fill of long sixes.

1888.  Cassell’s Picturesque Austral., III. 83. Their drivers had completed their regulation half-score *‘long sleevers’ of ‘she-oak.’

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Long-slide, a slide-valve of such length as to govern the ports at both ends of the cylinder, and having a hollow back, which forms an eduction passage.

1796.  Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), II. 291. Grey ore of Manganese. Fragments somewhat *long splintery.

1551.  Recorde, Pathw. Knowl., II. lxxvi. If you make a *long square of the whole line A. C, and of that parte of it that lyeth betwene the circumference and the point,… that longe square shall be equall to the full square of the touche line A. B.

1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. ii. 60. A Londstone of a Parallelogram or long square figure.

1797.  Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), V. 18/2. Take two pieces of pasteboard … through which you must cut long squares.

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. i. 82. No *Long-staffe sixpenny strikers.

a. 1661.  Holyday, Juvenal, 184. If thou dost carry but a little plate By night, the sword and long-staff thou fear’st straight.

1890.  Century Dict., *Long-staple, having a long fiber: a commercial term applied to cotton of a superior grade, also called sea-island cotton.

1882.  Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 187. (Embroidery), *Long stitch, also known as Point Passé, Passé, and Au Passé. It is a name given to Satin Stitch when worked across the material without any padding.

1899.  Baring-Gould, Bk. of West, I. x. 171. The menhirs, locally termed *longstones, or langstones.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Long-stroke, the order to a boat’s crew to stretch out and hang on her.

1884.  Imp. & Mach. Rev., 1 Dec., 6715/2. The long-stroke by which this pump is distinguished averages about one-third more.

1838.  Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 394/2. The short stroke engines are propelling the boats, both sea and river class, faster than the long stroke ones.

1859.  Bartlett, Dict. Amer., *Long sugar, molasses, so called formerly in North Carolina from the ropiness of it. Ibid., *Long sweetening, molasses, so called formerly in New England.

1883.  Encycl. Amer., I. 199/2. In the far West, as Down East, sugar bears the name of long and short sweetening, according as it is the product of the cane … or of the maple tree.

1794.  Rigging & Seamanship, I. 156. *Long-tackle-block.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Long-tackles, those overhauled down for hoisting up topsails to be bent. Long-tackle blocks have two sheaves of different sizes placed one above the other, as in fiddle-blocks.

1653.  Urquhart, Rabelais, I. xxiii. They played at the ball, the *long-tennis [F. à la paume], and at the Piletrigone.

1844.  G. Dodd, Textile Manuf., i. 36. Some [yarn] is employed as warp or *long threads for coarse goods.

c. 1850.  Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 130. *Long timbers, those timbers afore and abaft the floors which form the floor and second futtocks in one.

1584.  Cogan, Haven Health (1636), 171. Fish of *long time salting … is unwholsome.

1877.  A. M. Sullivan, New Irel., I. xv. 371. Mr. John Cashel Hoey, long-time colleague and friend.

1898.  Westm. Gaz., 21 April, 5/3. A long-time deacon of the Tabernacle and personal friend of the late Charles Spurgeon.

1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxviii. 96. His *‘long togs,’ the half-pay, his beaver hat, white linen shirts, and everything else.

1693.  Dryden, Juvenal, VI. 100. When now the *long vacation’s come The noisy hall and theatres grown dumb.

1825.  Thirlwall, Lett. (1881), 85. A most delightful fortnight which I spent last long vacation at Cambridge.

1848.  Clough (title), The Bothie of Toper-na-Fuosich, a long-vacation pastoral.

1900.  G. C. Brodrick, Mem. & Impress., 216. Such informal arrangements suffice to create a ‘Long Vacation Term.’

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Long voyage, one in which the Atlantic Ocean is crossed.

1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 978. The fourth system of working coal, is called the long way, the *long wall, and the Shropshire method.

1851.  Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 149. The method of working coal, adopted in the Yorkshire mines generally, is that known as the long wall,… distinguished from the Newcastle, or pillar-and-stall method, by extracting at once all available coal.

1902.  Blackw. Mag., Jan., 50/1. I worked the coal ‘long-wall.’

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 111. Þis is þe foorme of an heed weel propossiound,… þat he be *longe warpid, hauynge tofore & bihynde eminence.

1839.  *Long way [see long wall].

a. 1340.  Hampole, Psalter cii. 8. Mercyful lord: *langwillid [L. Longanimis] & mykil merciful.

1694.  Motteux, Rabelais, IV. vi. (1737), 21. They are *long-Wool Sheep.

1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 383. Wool Manufacture. This well-known staple is … divided into two distinct classes, long wool, or worsted spinning; and short wool, or the spinning of woollen yarn.

1835.  Ure, Philos. Manuf., 103. Long-wool yarns are numbered on the same principle. Ibid., 125. Long wool, called also combing wool, differs as materially in a manufacturing point of view from short or clothing wool, as flax does from cotton. Ibid., 130. Long wool, called also carding wool, requires length and soundness of staple.

1886.  C. Scott, Sheep-Farming, 57. Practically the two long-wools are equal in weight as shearlings.

1642.  C. Vernon, Consid. Exch., 18, marg. The *long Writ called the Prerogative Writ, out of the Treasurers Remembrancers Office, under the Teste of the chiefe Baron.

  b.  In names of animals, etc., as long-bill, a bird with a long bill, e.g., a snipe; long clam, (a) Mya arenaria (see CLAM sb.² 1 d); (b) the razor-clam, Ensis americana; long cripple dial., a slow-worm; also, a lizard; long dog dial., a greyhound; long-ear, long ears, an ass; also fig. of a human being; long fin Austral., a name for the fishes Caprodon schlegelii and Anthias longimanus, Günth. (Morris); † long-fish, ? a fish of the eel kind (cf. G. langfisch); long-horn, (a) one of a breed of long-horned cattle; (b) the long-eared owl, Otus vulgaris; long lugs Sc. = long ears; long-nose, a name for the GAR-FISH; long spur, a bird of the genus Calcarius (or Centrophanes); long-wing, a name for the swift; † long-worm, ? an adder or viper.

1884.  Times (weekly ed.), 3 Oct., 14/1. One thousand one hundred and fifty sounds a satisfactory bag of the *‘long-bills.’

1884.  Goode, etc., Nat. Hist. Useful Aquatic Anim., I. 707. The ‘Soft Clam,’ *‘Long Clam,’ or ‘Nanninose’ (Mya arenaria). Ibid. (1887), Fisheries U.S., II. 614. Under the name of ‘long clam,’ ‘knife-handle,’ and ‘razor-clam,’ they are occasionally seen in New York market.

1758.  W. Borlase, Nat. Hist. Cornw., 284. We have a kind of viper which we call the *Long-cripple: It is the slow-worm or deaf-adder of authors.

1864.  E. Cornw. Gloss., in Jrnl. R. Inst. Cornw., March, I. 17. Long-cripple, a lizard: in some parts applied to the snake.

1896.  Baring-Gould, Idylls, 223. He rins away from me … jist for all the world as if I were a long-cripple.

1847.  Halliwell, *Long dog, a greyhound.

1891.  T. Hardy, Tess (1900), 44/1. William turned, clinked off like a long-dog, and jumped safe over hedge.

1768–74.  Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 150. The beast … would sell for no more at a fair than his brother *Long-ear.

1845.  Browning, Lett. (1899), I. 16. This long-ears had to be ‘dear-Sir’d and obedient-servanted.’

1882.  J. E. Tenison-Woods, Fish N. S. Wales, 33 (Morris). The *long-fin, Anthias longimanus, Günth. … may be known by … the great length of the pectoral fins.

1598.  Florio, Licostomo, a kind of *longfish.

1834.  Youatt, Cattle, 188. The *long horns seem to have first appeared in Craven.

1856.  Yarrell, Brit. Birds, I. 131. Otus vulgaris, the Long-horn.

1879.  Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., 130. The cows in the field used to be longhorns, much more hardy.

a. 1748.  Ramsay, Condemned Ass, 64. Sae poor *lang lugs man pay the kane for a’.

1836.  Yarrell, Brit. Fishes, I. 391. The Garfish…, *Long-Nose.

1848.  C. A. Johns, Week at Lizard, 175. A long eel-shaped fish, the gur-fish, or long-nose.

1831.  A. Wilson & Bonaparte, Amer. Ornith., IV. 121. Emberiza Lapponica Wilson … Lapland *Longspur.

1893.  Coues, in Lewis & Clark’s Exped., I. 349, note. The black-breasted lark-bunting or longspur, Centrophanes (Rhynchophanes) maccowni.

1894.  R. B. Sharpe, Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit., I. 77. The Long-spurs, of which the Lapland Bunting is the type, are three in number.

1854.  Mary Howitt, Pictor. Cal. Seasons, 390. About the 12th of August the largest of the swallow tribe, the swift or *long-wing, disappears.

1648.  Gage, West Ind., xii. 51. Moules, Rats, *Long-wormes.

  c.  In the names of plants or vegetable products, as † long-bean = KIDNEY-BEAN; † long ear, a name for a kind of barley; long-flax (see quot.); long-leek, the ordinary leek (Allium porrum); long-moss = LONG-BEARD 3; long-pod, a variety of broad bean which produces a very long pod; long purples, a local name for Orchis mascula, Lythrum Salicaria, and other plants.

1587.  Mascall, Govt. Cattle (1627), 11. Faciolia, called in … English kidney-beane, or *long beane.

1523.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 13. *Long-eare hath a flatte eare, halfe an inche brode, and foure inches and more of length.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Long-flax, flax to be spun its natural length without cutting.

1867.  J. Hogg, Microsc., II. i. 357. The young flower-stalk of the *long-leek (Allium porrum).

1808.  T. Ashe, Trav. Amer., I. 126. *Long Moss, Tellandsia Usncoides.

1833.  Penny Cycl., I. 249/2. The long-moss region commences below 33° lat. The moss hangs in festoons from the trees.

1821.  W. Cobbett, Amer. Gardering, § 196. The best … is … the Windsor-Bean. The *Long-Pod is the next best.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., IV. vii. 170. There with fantasticke Garlands did she come, Of Crow-flowers, Nettles, Daysies, and *long Purples.

1821.  Clare, Vill. Minstr., II. 90. Gay long purple, with its tufty spike. Ibid., II. 210. (Gloss.), Long purples, purple loose-strife.

1830.  Tennyson, Dirge, v. Round thee blow … long purples of the dale.

  d.  Cricket: † long ball, a ball hit to a distance; long field (off, on), the position of a fieldsman who stands at a distance behind the bowler, either to his left or right; also, one who fields in that position; long-hop, a ball bowled or thrown so that it makes a long flight after pitching; long off, on, short for long field off, on; long-stop, a fieldsman who stands behind the wicket-keeper to stop the balls that pass him; hence long-stop vb., to field as long-stop, whence long-stopping vbl. sb. Also long leg, long slip (see the sbs.).

1744.  J. Love, Cricket (1770), III. 3. Some [fieldsmen], at a Distance, for the *Long Ball wait.

1843.  *Long field [see long on below].

1862.  Lond. Soc., II. 115/2. Carpenter might have made more drives to the long field.

1850.  ‘Bat,’ Cricketer’s Man., 43. *Long Field Off.—This situation demands a person who can throw well. Long Field On is of a character with the ‘off.’

1880.  Times, 28 Sept., 11/5. Mr. Moule, long-field-off.

1837.  New Sporting Mag., XI. 198. The lengths necessary to be pitched at that slow pace will be as good as *long hops.

1867.  Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 432. The ball should come skimming in with a long hop to the top of the bails. Ibid. (1864), 476. A drive to *long-off.

1901.  ‘Ian Maclaren,’ Yng. Barbarians, xv. 295. A miraculous catch which he made at long-off.

1843.  ‘A Wykhamist,’ Pract. Hints on Cricket, Frontisp. The *‘long on,’ or long field to the on-side, is for the most part done away with.

1797.  Colman, Hair at Law, II. ii. I’ll make you my *long-stop at cricket.

1884.  Lillywhite’s Cricket Ann., 103. Reliable long-stop and very smart in the long-field.

1860.  Baily’s Mag., I. 34. ‘Lord’s,’ where, in days of yore … Beagley … *long stopped. Ibid., 303. The *long stopping of Diver and Mortlock.

1871.  G. Meredith, H. Richmond, vi. We played at catch with the Dutch cheese, and afterwards bowled it for long-stopping.

  B.  Quasi-sb. and sb.

  I.  The neuter adj. used absol.

  1.  In various phrases with preps.

  † a.  At long: = ‘at length’; (a) after a long time, in the end; (b) in an extended manner, in many words, fully.

a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 3498. Bot lat vs leue him at longe & lende to oure hames.

1532.  More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 579/2. I shall purpose to treate of thys matter more at long.

1565.  T. Stapleton, Fortr. Faith, 139 b. It were … superfluous at longe to discusse.

  b.  Before long: before a long time has elapsed, soon. So ere long, ERELONG.

1760–72.  H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), IV. 69. Perhaps we may meet ere long.

1813.  Southey, Nelson, II. 196. Let us hope that these islands may, ere long, be made free and independent.

1871.  Trollope, Ralph the Heir, xlii. 426. ‘Bye, bye,’ said Neefit, ‘I’ll be here again before long.’

1872.  Swinburne, Ess. & Stud. (1875), 28. The terror and ignorance which ere long were to impel them to the conception and perpetration of even greater crimes.

1892.  Bookman, Oct., 28/2. We expect from him before long a better novel than he has yet given us.

  c.  By long and by last (? dial.): in the end.

1900.  H. C. Bailey, in Longm. Mag., Dec., 103. By long and by last we came to Veermut bridge.

  d.  For long: † (a) long ago (obs.); (b) throughout a long period (occas. for long and long, for long together); also predicatively, destined or likely to continue long.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 4507. For lang was said, and yeit sua bes, ‘Hert sun for-gettes þat ne ei seis.’

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Rich. III., 56. For long we have sought the furious bore, and now we have found him.

1729.  B. Lynde, Diary, 29 Dec. (1880), 35. Expecting the governor would adjourn for long the Gen’l Court.

1803.  Mary Charlton, Wife & Mistress, IV. 171. ‘Well, Lord, it mayn’t be for long,’ replied Dolly.

1839.  Spirit Metrop. Conserv. Press (1840), II. 535. No man … kept himself for long and long, at a fearful … speed, as did Lord Brougham.

1856.  F. E. Paget, Owlet of Owlst., 148. Her back aches … frightfully if she sits up for long together.

1874.  Ld. Houghton, in T. W. Reid, Life (1891), II. 300. Ripon’s conversion is one of the oddest news I have heard for long.

1895.  Mrs. H. Ward, Bessie Costrell, 121. The children … had been restless for long.

  † e.  Of long: since a remote period; for a long time past. (Cf. OF 53.) Obs.

1583.  Stocker, Civ. Warres Lowe C., IV. 24 b. The Castle of Antwerpe … had of long been a denne of murderers.

1591.  Spenser, M. Hubberd, 1325. The Lion … gan him avize … what had of long Become of him.

1603.  Knolles, Hist. Turks (1638), 1. The Turks haue of long most inhabited the lesser Asia.

1615.  W. Lawson, Country Housew. Gard. (1626), 39. Suckers of long doe not beare.

1625.  Bacon, Ess., Judicature (Arb.), 453. Penall Lawes, if they haue beene Sleepers of long.

  † f.  On long: in length. Obs.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 21664. O four corner þe arche was made, Als has þe cros on lang and brade.

  † g.  Umbe long: after a long interval. Obs.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxix. § 2 (Sedgefield), 125. Ða andswarode he ymbe long and cwæð.

a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 518. Þes sondesmon, umbe long,… com, & brohte wið him fifti scolmeistres.

  † h.  With the longest: for a very long time.

1636.  trans. Florus’s Hist., IV. ii. 273. When that part of his forces which was left behind … stayed with the longest [L. moram faceret] at Brundisium.

  i.  At (the) longest: on the longest estimate.

1857.  Pusey, Lenten Serm., xii. (1883), 235. Short, at the longest, were the life of man.

  2.  Without prep.: Much time. Now chiefly in to take long. † This long (used advb.): for this long time (obs.). That long (colloq.): that length of time.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, I. 262. Du sone, this lang quhar has thow beyne?

1565.  T. Stapleton, trans. Bede’s Hist. Ch. Eng., 31. Forsakyng that auncient religion whiche this longe both I and my people haue obserued.

1635.  J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Banish’d Virg., 102. Otherwise he had never … this long have deferr’d its discovery.

1898.  Engineering Mag., XVI. 67. It will take at least ten times that long to get a train ready for a return trip.

1901.  ‘A. Hope,’ Tristram of Blent, xxv. 336. He had been wondering how long they would take to think of the lady who now held the title and estates.

Mod.  Don’t take very long about it. I do not think it will take long to finish the work.

  b.  as the predicate of an impersonal clause, (a) it is (was, will be, etc.) long before, since, to (something); it will be long first; ere it be long. † Also long to (used absol.) = ‘long first.’ † Also ellipt., though long first.

c. 1000[?].  in Sax. Leechd., III. 434. Næs lang to þy þæt his broþor þyses lænan lifes timan ʓeendode.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), i. 4. It es lang sen it fell oute of þe hand.

1485.  Caxton, Paris & V., 39. It shal not be longe to but that ye shal be hyely maryed.

1540–1.  Elyot, Image Gov., 7. There shall be or it bee longe, a more ample remembraunce.

1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 174. Leste the olde enemye of mankynde, would styre up warre … or ever it were longe.

c. 1592.  Marlowe, Massacre Paris, XX. 13. And tell him, ere it be long, I’ll visit him.

1606.  Rollock, 1 Thess. iii. 34. Byde a little while, it is not long to.

1616.  T. Mathews, Lett., in Ussher’s Lett. (1686), 36. God now at last, though long first, sending so good opportunity.

1631.  Weever, Anc. Funeral Mon., 223. As it was long before he could be perswaded to take a Prebend of Lincolne.

1670.  Lady Mary Bertie, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 22. I hope now it will not be long before I see you at Exton.

1740.  trans. De Mouhy’s Fort. Country-Maid (1741), I. 47. It will not be long first.

1824.  Miss Ferrier, Inher., lxvi. She’ll bring him round to her way of thinking before it’s long.

  3.  The long and the short of (it, etc.), less frequently the short and the long: the sum total, substance, upshot. Also, to make short of long: to make a long story short.

c. 1500.  Merch. & Child, in Hazlitt, Early Pop. Poetry, I. 135. Thys ys the schorte and longe.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., II. i. 137. There’s the short and the long.

1620.  Shelton, Quix., II. xxxix. 254. The short and the long was this.

1642.  J. Eaton, Honey-c. Free Justif., 245. Whereof riseth such a necessity of beleeving … that Christ maketh this the short and long of all.

1690.  W. Walker, Idiomat. Anglo-Lat., 412. This is the long and the short of it.

1713.  Addison, Guardian, No. 108, ¶ 8. This is, sir, the long and the short of the matter.

1770.  Foote, Lame Lover, II. Wks. 1799, II. 80. And that, Mr. John, is the long and the short on’t.

1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, xxxv. The short and the long of it is, that [etc.].

1883.  R. W. Dixon, Mano, IV. vii. 160. There, to make short of long, was he way-laid By many knights at once.

1898.  Besant, Orange Girl, I. ix. The long and the short of it … is that you must pay me this money.

  II.  As sb. (with a and plural).

  4.  Mus. A long note; spec. in the early notation, a note equivalent to two or to three breves, according to the rhythm employed; also, the character by which it was denoted. † Long and short (see quot. 1597).

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., xii. 414. It was a mery song; I dar say that he broght foure & twenty to a long.

1590.  Cokaine, Treat. Hunting, D iv b. Where the Foxe is earthed, blowe for the Terriers after this manner: One long and two short.

1594.  Barnfield, Sheph. Cont., iii. My Prick-Song’s alwayes full of Largues and Longs.

1597.  Morley, Introd. Mus., 78. Long and short is when we make two notes tied togither, and then another of the same kinde alone.

a. 1619.  Fotherby, Atheom., II. xii. § 1 (1622), 334. The Art of Musicke mixeth contrary sounds in her Songes: as Sharps, with flats; and briefes, with Longs.

1674.  Playford, Skill Mus., I. vii. 24. The Large contains eight Semibreves, the Long four.

1706.  A. Bedford, Temple Mus., xi. 227. When Musick was first invented, there were but Two Notes, viz. a Long, and a Breve.

1782.  Burney, Hist. Mus., II. iii. 184. The first consists of a succession of Longs and Breves.

1887.  Browning, Parleyings w. Cert. People, Wks. 1896, II. 730/1. Larges and Longs and Breves displacing quite Crotchet-and-quaver pertness.

1891.  W. Pole, Philos. Mus., 162. The breve being intended to be held about half the time of the long.

  attrib.  1727–41.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Character, Long Rest.

1886.  W. S. Rockstro, Hist. Mus., iii. 35. Perfect Long Rest. Imperfect Long Rest.

  5.  Prosody. A long syllable. Longs and shorts: quantitative (esp. Latin or Greek) verses or versification. Hence (nonce-use) long-and-short v., to make Greek or Latin verses.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Rich. III., 42. This poeticall schoolemayster corrector of breves and longes, caused Collyngborne to be abbreviate shorter by the hed.

1811.  Byron, Hints from Hor., 514. Whom public schools compel To ‘long and short’ before they’re taught to spell.

1851.  Carlyle, Sterling, I. iv. (1872), 29. Classicality,… greatly distinguishable from … death in longs and shorts.

1871.  M. Arnold, Friendship’s Garland, vi. 51. ‘I have seen some longs and shorts of Hittall’s,’ said I, ‘about the Calydonian Boar, which were not bad.’

1872.  Young Gentleman’s Mag., 23/1. As two shorts are supposed to equal one long, you may … put a dactyl for a spondee.

  6.  Building. Longs and shorts: long and short blocks placed alternately in a vertical line; the style of masonry characterized by this arrangement. Also attrib., as in long-and-short work, masonry.

1845.  Petrie, Round Towers Irel., II. iii. 188. Long and short…. This masonry consists of alternate long and short blocks of ashlar, or hewn stone, bonding into the wall.

1863.  G. G. Scott, Westm. Abbey (ed. 2), 11. A small loop window … with long-and-short work in the jambs.

1884.  Earle, Ags. Lit., 54. Of Saxon construction a chief peculiarity is that which is called ‘longs and shorts.’ It occurs in coins of towers, in panelling work, and sometimes in door jambs.

  7.  = Long Vacation (A. 18).

1885.  M. Pattison, Mem., 149. I began the Long in the belief that I was going in for my degree in November.

1888.  Echoes Oxford Mag. (1890), 111. If you dare to come up in the Long.

1891.  Daily News, 25 Oct., 2/3. [Oxford] had not yet awakened from the lethargy of the ‘Long.’

  8.  pl. = long-clothes.

1841.  J. T. Hewlett, Parish Clerk, II. 63. A baby in longs.

  9.  pl. Long whist. (See WHIST sb.) rare.

1841.  J. T. Hewlett, Parish Clerk, II. 29. Shilling points at longs … were the fashion.

1850.  Bohn’s Handbk. Games, 162.

  10.  Comm. One who has purchased in expectation of future demand.

1881.  Chicago Times, 12 March. Under negotiations by the ‘longs’ … the market [i.e., for pork] fell back 5c.

1890.  Daily News, 2 Sept., 2/5. Wheat … fell off owing to longs unloading.

1897.  Westm. Gaz., 23 Aug., 5/1. ‘Longs’ circulating sensational accounts of damage done to the spring wheat crop.