length
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- Canada//lɛŋ(k)θ//
- Canada//lɛn(t)θ//
- Australia//leŋ(k)θ//
The distance measured along the longest dimension of an object.
noun
- 1
The distance measured along the longest dimension of an object.
- 2
Duration.
Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.
In equatorial Ecuador, days and nights are almost the same length, and the sun goes down early.
- 3
The length of a horse, used to indicate the distance between horses at the end of a race.
five lengths ahead of the field
- 4
Distance between the two ends of a line segment.
- 5
The distance down the pitch that the ball bounces on its way to the batsman.
- 6
figurativeTotal extent.
the length of a book
- 7
Part of something that is long; a physical piece of something.
a length of rope
a length of hair
- 8
slangA penis.
, Bride for the Billionaire Bear Shifter His cock felt firm under her palm, and her mouth watered as she imagined wrapping her lips around his length.
- 9
A unit of script length, comprising 42 lines.
[…] open your book of the play, which you have previously carefully perused, and at the same time marked with the proper calls, as thus: a length (or 42 lines) before an entrance, with a pen make a figure on the margin, […]
The boy was engaged to write out parts at a penny a length (42 lines) for Chetwood, who then charged the manager, […]
- 10
The number of cards held in a particular suit.
An artificial bid doesn't necessarily show length in the suit being bid, it has an altogether different meaning.
- 11
The amount of time for which the taste of wine lingers on the palate after swallowing or spitting it out, measured in caudilies.
Etymology
From Middle English lengthe, from Old English lengþ, lengþu, from Proto-West Germanic *langiþu, from Proto-Germanic *langiþō, equivalent to long + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Scots lenth, lainth (“length”), Saterland Frisian Loangte (“length”), West Frisian lingte, langte (“length”), Dutch lengte (“length”), German Low German Längde, Längd, Längte, Längt (“length”), Danish længde (“length”), Swedish längd (“length”), Icelandic lengd (“length”).
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo lengthen.
Pack night, peep day; good day, of night now borrow: / Short night, to-night, and length thyself to-morrow.
Was never man such favour could off atall ladies fynde, To cause them lengthe or shorte the day which they to hym assynde.
[He] knows full well life doth but length his pain.
Forms
- plural
- lengths
- past tense
- lengthed
- past participle
- lengthed
- present participle
- lengthing
- third person singular
- lengths
length · The distance measured along the longest dimension of an object.
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