long

long¹

adjective (longer, longest)

1》 of a great distance or duration.

    ↘of a specified distance or duration.

    ↘(of a ball in sport) travelling a great distance, or further than expected.

2》 relatively great in extent.

    ↘having a specified extent.

3》 Phonetics (of a vowel) categorized as long with regard to quality and length (e.g. in standard British English the vowel u: in food).

    ↘Prosody (of a vowel or syllable) having the greater of the two recognized durations.

4》 (of odds or a chance) reflecting or representing a low level of probability.

5》 Finance (of shares or other assets) bought in advance, with the expectation of a rise in price.

    ↘(of a security) maturing at a distant date.

6》 (of a drink) large, refreshing, and containing little or no alcohol.

7》 (long on) informal well supplied with.

noun

1》 a long time.

2》 a long sound, vowel, or syllable.

3》 (longs) Finance long securities or assets.

adverb (longer; longest)

1》 for a long time.

    ↘at a distant time: long ago.

    ↘throughout a specified period of time: all day long.

2》 (with reference to the ball in sport) at, to, or over a great distance.

Phrases

as (or so) long as

1》 during the whole time that.

2》 provided that.

be long take a long time.

in the long run (or term) eventually.

the long and the short of it all that can or need be said.

long in the tooth rather old. [orig. said of horses, from the recession of the gums with age.]

Derivatives

longish adjective

Origin

OE lang, long (adjective), lange, longe (adverb), of Gmc origin.

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long²

verb (long for/to do) have a strong wish for or to do.

Origin

OE langian 'grow long', also 'yearn', of Gmc origin.