Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A unit for measuring distance, equal to 1/8 mile (201 meters).

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A measure of length equal to the eighth part of a mile, 40 rods, poles, or perches, 220 yards, or 201.17 meters.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A measure of length; the eighth part of a mile; forty rods; two hundred and twenty yards.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A unit of length equal to 220 yards or exactly 201.168 meters, now only used in measuring distances in horse-racing.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a unit of length equal to 220 yards

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English furlang : furh, furrow + lang, long; see long.]

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Examples

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  • A measure of distance, a furrow long, the distance eight oxen in a plow-team can work without rest; also, one side of a 10-acre square.

    January 11, 2007