Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A wing of a building at right angles to the main structure.
- n. A right-angled bend in a pipe or conduit; an elbow.
- n. Any of several historical units of measure corresponding roughly to the length of the arm, especially the English measure equal to 45 inches (114 centimeters).
- n. Variant of el1.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A long measure, chiefly used for cloth. The English ell, not yet obsolete, is a yard and a quarter, or 45 inches. This unit seems to have been imported from France under the Tudors; and a statute of 1409 recognizes no difference between the ell (aune) and the yard (verge). The Scotch ell was 37 Scotch inches, or 37.0958 English inches. The so-called Flemish ell differed in different places, but averaged 27.4 English inches. Other well-ascertained ells were the following: ell of Austria, 30.676 English inches; of Bavaria, 32.702 inches; of Bremen, 22.773 inches; of Cassel, 22.424 inches; of France, 47.245 inches; of Poland, 22.650 inches; of Prussia, 26.259 inches; of Saxony, 22.257 inches; of Sweden, 23.378 inches. The ell of Holland is now the meter. See cubit, pik, endazeh, kut, braccio, khaleb.
- n. The name of the letter L, l. It is rarely so written, the symbol being used instead.
- n. An addition to or wing of a house which gives it the shape of the capital letter L.
- n. A pipe-connection changing the direction at right angles.
Wiktionary
- n. A measure for cloth. An English ell equals 1.25 yards, whereas a Scottish ell measures only 1.0335 yards (http://www.onlineunitconversion.com). A Flemish ell measured three quarters, (27 inches).
- n. An extension usually at right angles to one end of a building.
- n. Something that is L-shaped.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A measure for cloth; -- now rarely used. It is of different lengths in different countries; the English ell being 45 inches, the Dutch or Flemish ell 27, the Scotch about 37.
- n. (Arch.) See l.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an extension at the end and at right angles to the main building
Etymologies
- From Old English eln “unit of measure of 45 inches,” originally “length of the forearm,” from Proto-Indo-European *el- “elbow, forearm”. (Wiktionary)
- From its resemblance to the shape of the capital letter L, or short for elbow.Middle English, from Old English eln, the length from the elbow to the middle finger's tip, ell; see el- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I'll see you in 'ell first," came the retort courteous.”
“It will be a cold very cold day in - ell before i ever vote for Obama, any other African American would be fine, but not that sneaky, hypocritical lying racist.”
“People Brian and i are good friends. let me tell you Dean Stockwall/well/all/ell is a darn dreamboat and heard about all his wives on “quantam leap”.”
“Media Watch: What the bloody 'ell is this' ere malarky about Talk Like A Pirate Day?”
“H ell is a real place, and Mahatma Gandhi is in it.”
Is That Legal?: Move Over, Gandhi. You've Got Company. Ted Haggard's Coming.
“` I'll see you in 'ell first,' came the retort courteous.”
“12: 15 Watching: Red Riding: 1974 ... bleedin '' ell, it makes Yorkshire look like several circles of Hell.”
“Tucked in an ell was a small kitchen with a charming skylight and a short hallway leading to two small bedrooms.”
“With hardwood floors (no linoleum over plywood here), custom doors and windows, a working fireplace and a REAL DINING ROOM (not the postwar dining 'ell'), this is a home that exudes character.”
“Come on, come on, where the 'ell's the captain?" says one.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ell’.
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phrontistery - e
from phrontistery.info
ephod, epact, eozoic, eonism, ensiform, ensanguine, enoptromancy, enounce, enosimania, ennomic, enneagon, eolith and 616 more...
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EN - archaic words
abide, abjure, abroad, adamant, afield, aforetime, aghast, anon, apace, argent, assuage, aught and 328 more...
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3-letter Scrabble Words
aah, aal, aas, aba, abo, abs, aby, ace, act, add, ado, ads and 995 more...
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Words that can be spelled on an upsid...
Imagine my joy when I was wearing my calculator watch and was first introduced to someone named Leslie - there was exactly enough room on the display for 317537.14.
Edit: I've discove...hi, hello, leslie, sheesh, she, bells, hells, hog, boss, goggles, he, bob and 233 more...
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Best words ever
The most awesome words.
abacot, aristology, autohagiography, backronym, bafflegab, bodacious, boustrophedonic, brobdingnagian, bromopnea, cachinnatory, dactylonomy, eagre and 26 more...
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English Weights and Measures
Most of these are names of weights and measures in use before 1500, gleaned from household accounts of English estates and colleges.
pondus, clove, wey, charrus, pisa, sum, seam, petra, fatt, peck, quarter, skep and 49 more...
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Elbow Words
dunch, elbuck, jundie, olecranon, anconad, akimbo, pasguard, ancon, ginglymus, coudee, macaroni, miter and 6 more...
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Most Obscure Words
acatalectic, acosmism, acuate, acuminate, adscititious, adytum, akratisma, alieniloquy, allelomorph, allochiria, allodium, alnage and 620 more...
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Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young ...
These words are from Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young Lady, 1747-48
adumbrate, virago, varlet, rencounter, akimbo, palliate, amanuensis, amok, equipage, cully, se'ennight, resentments and 560 more...
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Notre Dame de Paris
From Notre Dame de Paris by good ole Victor Hugo. (Also called The Hunchback of Notre Dame.)
cuivres, diable, hawthorn, provost, epithalamium, affrighted, mendicants, vagrants, Styx, chimeras, coif, matagrabolise and 196 more...
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3LW
3 letter words, not the girl band.
boggle and speed scrabble would not be half as fun without them.aah, boa, dot, fun, ick, log, oca, pyx, sos, was, aal, bob and 342 more...
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Eocene (Eosin) (Eoscene) (Eoseen) Eng...
Dawn Words in English
swefnum, swefna, secgan, goste, wealhstod, wald-swathu, hearpan, hwaet, leothcraeft, beorhtost, wyrd, dustsceawung and 131 more...
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azd's Words
adamantine, abatial, ablate, ablative, abrogate, accretive, acromegaly, acrostic, actinism, actinic, acuity, adduce and 968 more...
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Time for a new list!
abrupt, erupt, rupture, sync, appropinquity, heterochromia, homochromatic, monochromatic, willy nilly, nitty gritty, kowtow, wonton and 455 more...
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traipsin' 'long through dis 'ear book...
Words which are either entirely new to me or;
Words which I comprehend generally but would prefer a more precise definition.
venality, seigneurial, mendicant, perforce, manse, glebe, trenchant, saw, obstreperous, profligate, dissipation, galliard and 176 more...
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Damieng's Words
lupine, sapor, boz imp, imp, ovine, saracen, haberdashery, tiebar, shill, cutler, cutaway, lucite and 218 more...
Tweets
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