Definitions

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

  • adjective Extending or traveling a relatively great distance.
  • adjective Having relatively great height; tall.
  • adjective Having the greater length of two or the greatest length of several.
  • adjective Of relatively great duration.
  • adjective Of a specified linear extent or duration.
  • adjective Made up of many members or items.
  • adjective Extending beyond an average or standard.
  • adjective Extending or landing beyond a given boundary, limit, or goal.
  • adjective Tediously protracted; lengthy.
  • adjective Concerned with distant issues; far-reaching.
  • adjective Involving substantial chance; risky.
  • adjective Having an abundance or excess of.
  • adjective Having a holding of a commodity or security in expectation of a rise in price.
  • adjective Linguistics Having a comparatively great duration. Used of a vowel or consonant.
  • adjective Grammar Relating to or being the English speech sounds (ā, ē, ī, ō, oo͞) that are tense vowels or diphthongs.
  • adjective Being of relatively great duration. Used of a syllable in quantitative prosody.
  • adverb During or for an extended period of time.
  • adverb At or to a considerable distance; far.
  • adverb Beyond a given boundary, limit, or goal.
  • adverb For or throughout a specified period.
  • adverb At a point of time distant from that referred to.
  • adverb Into or in a long position, as of a commodity market.
  • noun A long time.
  • noun Linguistics A long syllable, vowel, or consonant.
  • noun One who acquires holdings in a security or commodity in expectation of a rise in price.
  • noun A garment size for a tall person.
  • noun Trousers extending to the feet or ankles.
  • idiom (any longer) For more time.
  • idiom (before long) Soon.
  • idiom (long ago) At a time or during a period well before the present.
  • idiom (long ago) A time well before the present.
  • idiom (long in the tooth) Growing old.
  • idiom (no longer) Not now as formerly.
  • idiom (not long for) Unlikely to remain for much more time in.
  • idiom (the long and the short of it) The substance or gist.
  • intransitive verb To have an earnest, heartfelt desire, especially for something beyond reach.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To have a yearning or wistful desire; feel a strong wish or craving; hanker: followed by for or after before the object of desire, or by an infinitive.
  • To long for; desire.
  • Same as along: in the phrase long of, sometimes written ‘long of.
  • To belong.
  • To a great extent in space; with much length: as, a line long drawn out.
  • Far; to or at a distance, or an indicated distance.
  • To a great extent in time; for an extended period; with prolonged duration: as, he has been long dead; it happened long ago, long before, or long afterward; a long-continued drought; a long-forgotten matter.
  • For a length of time; for the period of: used with terms of limitation: as, how long shall you remain? as long as I can; all day long.
  • An abbreviation of longitude.
  • See -ling.

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old English lang; see del- in Indo-European roots.]

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

[Middle English longen, from Old English langian; see del- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English longen, from Old English langian ("to long for, yearn after, grieve for, be pained, lengthen, grow longer, summon, belong"), from Proto-Germanic *langōnan (“to desire, long for”), from Proto-Indo-European *dl̥h₁gʰós (“long”). Cognate with German langen ("to reach, be sufficient"), Swedish langa ("to push, pass by hand"), Icelandic langa ("to want, desire"), Dutch and German verlangen ("to desire, want, long for").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Aphetic form of Old English gelang; the verb later reinterpreted as an aphetic form of belong.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English long, lang, from Old English long, lang ("long, tall, lasting"), from Proto-Germanic *langaz (“long”), from Proto-Indo-European *dl̥h₁gʰós (“long”). Cognate with Scots lang ("long"), North Frisian long, lung ("long"), Saterland Frisian loang ("long"), West Frisian lang ("long"), Dutch lang ("long"), German lang ("long"), Swedish lång ("long"), Icelandic langur ("long"), Latin longus ("long"), Ancient Greek δολιχός (dolikhos), Russian долгий (dólgij), длинный (dlinnyj).

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Examples

  • Barney told Snubby of their idea to follow the men, if they went out that night, and see if they went up the 'long, long hole.

    Working Without a Net Randy Lowens 2010

  • We cannot� be free as long as our human rights are violated, as long� as we don't have economic equality and as long as we� are not participating in gender-balanced political bodies.

    Remarks by Bella Abzug at the 42nd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women Jewish Women's Archive 2010

  • "The men must be smuggling something, " she said, -and hiding it up Dafydd's 'long, long hole.

    Working Without a Net Randy Lowens 2010

  • We cannot� be free as long as our human rights are violated, as long� as we don't have economic equality and as long as we� are not participating in gender-balanced political bodies.

    Remarks by Bella Abzug at the 42nd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women Jewish Women's Archive 2010

  • It wasn't long before news reports fingered Robert Halderman, a producer at CBS 'long running crime show, 48 Hours Mystery, as the perpetrator of the alleged crime -- threatening to go public with details of Mr. Letterman's affairs with CBS employees, if the late night star didn't turn over a check for $ 2 million.

    Letterman's Alleged Blackmailer Is a Guy's Guy, Sort of Like Vince Vaughn 2009

  • It wasn't long before news reports fingered Robert Halderman, a producer at CBS 'long running crime show, 48 Hours Mystery, as the perpetrator of the alleged crime -- threatening to go public with details of Mr. Letterman's affairs with CBS employees, if the late night star didn't turn over a check for $ 2 million.

    Letterman's Alleged Blackmailer Is a Guy's Guy, Sort of Like Vince Vaughn 2009

  • It wasn't long before news reports fingered Robert Halderman, a producer at CBS 'long running crime show, 48 Hours Mystery, as the perpetrator of the alleged crime -- threatening to go public with details of Mr. Letterman's affairs with CBS employees, if the late night star didn't turn over a check for $ 2 million.

    Letterman's Alleged Blackmailer Is a Guy's Guy, Sort of Like Vince Vaughn 2009

  • I have long contemplated the possibility that he and others are playing the 'long game 'in which, like the IRA in negotiations, it doesnt matter what you say or agree to because the end result is all that matters.

    On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2008

  • When a business cycle recession is eight months 'long and the debate on what to do about it is six months' long, you missed the wave.

    CNN Transcript Apr 5, 2008 2008

  • When a business cycle recession is eight months 'long and the debate on what to do about it is six months' long, you missed the wave.

    CNN Transcript Apr 6, 2008 2008

  • This has become a trend in many adults, who describe experiencing symptoms of “long covid” for weeks or months after they first became unwell.

    Have we been thinking about covid-19 symptoms all wrong? #author.fullName} 2020

  • These debates have been supercharged by the rise of long Covid, a patient-coined term invoking post-viral chronic illness that lingers after sufferers have ostensibly recovered from SARS-CoV-2.

    We Might Have Long Covid All Wrong Natalie Shure 2023

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