Pronunciations (10)
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/lɒŋ/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/lɔːŋ/
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/lʊŋɡ/
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/laŋ/
Pronunciation notes
- Northumbria
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/lɔŋ/
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/lɑŋ/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
- cot-caught-merger
- dialectal
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/lɒŋ/
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- dialectal
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/lɔŋ/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- Scotland
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/lɒŋ/
Pronunciation notes
- New-Zealand
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[lɔ̟ŋ]
Pronunciation notes
- New-Zealand
Adjective
Having much distance in space from one end to the other.
- Examples
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This is a long bridge.
I need a long piece of wood.
It’s a long way from the Earth to the Moon.
More examples (4)
How long was your newborn baby?
We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith.
The face which emerged was not reassuring.[…]. He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls.
A mature silkworm is an impressive 2¾ inches (70 mm) long and eats 50,000 times its mature body weight over the course of its development.
Having much distance in space from one end to the other. Specifically, having much distance in a horizontal dimension (see also Usage Notes below).
- Examples
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This table is long but not very high.
Having much distance in space from one end to the other. Travelling a great distance.
- Examples
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Smith hoofs a long ball up to Jones.
Having much distance in space from one end to the other. Having a long penis.
Usage- Informal
- Examples
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My ex was very strong but not very long.
Travelling or extending too great a distance in space. Passing or landing ahead of or beyond the intended target or location.
Usage- usually
- of weapons fire
- Examples
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The plane touched down long and overran the end of the runway.
More examples (1)
Juneau was making good time with the other surviving U.S. Navy ships, despite her damage, when the I-26 spotted her and sent a salvo of Type 95 torpedoes in her direction. Passing between the Helena and San Francisco, some indication being they had actually been shot at the San Francisco and gone long because San Francisco was travelling significantly slower than expected, they nonetheless hit Juneau and detonated the ship’s magazine.
Travelling or extending too great a distance in space. Going beyond the intended target.
Usage- of a ball or shot
- Examples
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That forehand was long. It landed two feet beyond the baseline.
The pass was long and was gathered by the opposing goalkeeper.
Having great duration.
- Examples
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It was a long meeting.
His speech was long and dull.
The pyramids of Egypt have been around for a long time.
More examples (2)
I took a long look at the house, knowing it was for the last time.
I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.
Seeming to last a lot of time, due to being boring, tedious, tiring, irksome, etc.
- Examples
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It took us three long weeks to clear the stones from the field.
It'll be a long journey home for the travelling supporters after that 5-0 defeat.
More examples (1)
What I suffered with that rein for four long months in my lady’s carriage, it would be hard to describe, but I am quite sure that, had it lasted much longer, either my health or my temper would have given way.
Not short; tall.
Usage- Ireland
- UK usage
- Dated
- Examples
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More examples (1)
The colonel and his sponsor made a queer contrast: Greystone [the sponsor] long and stringy, with a face that seemed as if a cold wind was eternally playing on it.
Bless ’em all, bless ’em all, the long, the short and the tall.
Possessing or owning stocks, bonds, commodities, or other financial instruments with the aim of benefiting from an expected rise in their value.
- Antonyms
- Examples
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I’m long in DuPont.
I have a long position in DuPont.
Of a fielding position, close to the boundary (or closer to the boundary than the equivalent short position).
Of betting odds, offering a very large return for a small wager.
Occurring or coming after an extended interval; distant in time; far away.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
But Campbell thus did ſhut vp all in ieſt, / Braue Knights and Ladies, certes ye doe wrong / To ſtirre vp ſtrife, when moſt vs needeth reſt, / That we may vs reſerue both freſh and ſtrong, / Againſt the Turneiment which is not long.
In great supply; abundant.
Usage- Multicultural-London-English
- Slang
- of money
- Examples
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I’m talkin’ ’bout… I’m talkin’ ’bout that long money.
Me and broke niggas, we don’t get along (Nah). Hair long (Long), money long (Yeah).
More examples (5)
Never lie, money longer than Pinnochio.
Rent-a-cars we road run, money longer than train smoke.
Money so long, it’s offensive.
Don't get it twisted, I love my fans. Everything about them keeps me strong. They're the reason why my money be long. Trust me bro, my money be long.
I got some rope in the trunk, tape and one shovel Long money, talkin’ billions, nigga, and I want several
stupid; annoying; bullshit
Usage- Multicultural-London-English
- broadly
- Slang
- Examples
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More examples (2)
[Verse 1: Sleeks]: Keep thinking about Ps that I need but it’s long. All these things that I've done in the streets got me on my knees trying to reason with God. B-B beefin’ is long but I might still greeze up a Don.
MOBEEN: I do love nature when it’s on television and David Attenborough’s presenting. I hate nature in real life! Smells like shite around here! Plants and (he waves a fly away) …plants and that. It’s so long!
DUSHANE: I’m stepping back from the roads now. All of that shit is long! And by next year, I want to be completely legit, then it’s just me, you and Tish.
Nah fuck that I don't like mixing my circles like that. Plus if some shit goes bad I gotta be in the middle it's all long
serious; deadly.
Usage- Multicultural-London-English
- broadly
- Slang
- Examples
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JAMIE: Yo, if I see you man round here again, it is long for you!
Measuring 8½ in × 13 in.
Usage- Canada
- US usage
- of paper or document layouts
Measuring 8½ in × 14 in.
Usage- Philippines
- of paper or document layouts
Noun
A long vowel.
- Examples
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In French most vowels are half-long, and are only occasionally lengthened or shortened into full longs and shorts.
A long syllable.
A note formerly used in music, one half the length of a large, twice that of a breve.
A long integer variable, twice the size of an int, two or four times the size of a short, and half of a long long.
- Examples
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A long is typically 64 bits in a 32-bit environment.
An entity with a long position in an asset; for example, a trader or investor possessing an amount of a company's shares.
- Synonyms
- Examples
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Every uptick made the longs cheer.
A long-maturity security, such as a ten- or twenty-year bond.
- Examples
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More examples (2)
Likewise, if borrowers prefer to sell short-maturity issues at the time lenders prefer to invest in longs, as is the case when interest rates are expected to fall, longer maturity issues will tend to yield less than shorter maturity issues.
"U.S. Treasury Market Structure", Hedge funds are constrained in how much leverage they can utilize, in part because the futures contracts they are shorting against their Treasury longs have significant initial margin requirements.
Verb
To take a long position in.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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The left panel shows the profile of a portfolio consisting of longing a call and shorting a put.
Adverb
Over a great distance in space.
- Synonyms
- a long wayfar
- Antonyms
- a short distance
- Examples
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Every golfer wants to hit the ball long and straight.
Over a great distance in space. Over too great a distance, beyond the target.
- Examples
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She hit her return long and lost the point.
For a particular duration (specified by additional qualifying words accompanying it).
- Examples
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How long is it until the next bus arrives?
She has known us as long as you.
More examples (6)
I’ve waited long enough.
He slept all day long.
Don't stay longer than two hours.
The meeting has already gone on much too long.
I ſtay too long ; but here my Father comes : / A double bleſſing is a double grace; / Occaſion ſmiles vpon a ſecond leaue.
I answer by saying that I have worked too long and hard now against segregated public accommodations to end up segregating my moral concern.
For a long time.
Usage- adjective
- adverb
- participle
- Examples
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Have you been waiting long?
Paris has long been considered one of the most cultured cities in the world.
By eight o’clock, the food will be long gone.
More examples (6)
I seldom stay long after class, but yesterday I spent the evening and long into the night.
Long live the Queen.
The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
The world was awake to the 2nd of May, but Mayfair is not the world, and even the menials of Mayfair lie long abed.
Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, […]. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe.
[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.
For a long time.
Usage- Rare
- Examples
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More examples (1)
It’s an earth song,— And I’ve been waiting long for an earth song. It’s a spring song,— And I’ve been waiting long for a spring song.[…] I have been waiting long for this spring song.
A long time (see usage notes).
- Antonyms
- Examples
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Will this interview take long?
I haven’t got long to live.
More examples (3)
They are in a hurry; they can’t wait for too long.
My liefe (ſayd ſhe) ye know, that long ygo, / Whileſt ye in durance dwelt, ye to me gaue / A little mayde, the which ye chylded tho ; / The ſame againe if now ye liſt to haue, / The ſame is yonder Lady, whom high God did ſaue.
[Verse 1]:[…]Be there in five, man’s taking long. Are you still there? No fam, I’m already gone.
A long time ago.
- Examples
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The place was solitary and deserted […] only the line of mouldering towers and battlements on the hill above spoke of the busy life that had long passed away.
Verb
To await, aspire, desire greatly (something to occur or to be true).
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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I long to see my family.
She longed for him to come back.
More examples (1)
The Rabbit sighed. He thought it would be a long time before this magic called Real happened to him. He longed to become Real, to know what it felt like; and yet the idea of growing shabby and losing his eyes and whiskers was rather sad.
Adjective
On account of, because of.
Usage- Archaic
- not-comparable
- Examples
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I am of opinion, that in regarde of theſe debauches and lewde actions, fathers may, in ſome ſort, be blamed, and that it is onely long of them.
Verb
To be appropriate to, to pertain or belong to.
Usage- Archaic
- Examples
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A goodly Armour, and full rich aray, / Which long’d to Angela, the Saxon Queene, / All fretted round with gold, and goodly wel beseene.
Tis well, and hold your owne in any case / With such austeritie as longeth to a father.
Verb
To belong.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Now ſend Ambaſſage to thy neighbor Kinges, And let them know the Perſian King is chang’d: From one that knew not what a King ſhould doe, To one that can commaund what longs there to: […]
Adjective
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
- Antonyms
- Examples
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a long life
a long boring speech
More examples (5)
a long time
a long friendship
a long game
long ago
an hour long
primarily spatial sense; of relatively great or greater than average spatial extension or extension as specified
- Antonyms
- Examples
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a long road
a long distance
More examples (2)
contained many long words
ten miles long
of relatively great height
- Examples
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looked out the long French windows
good at remembering
- Synonyms
- Examples
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a retentive mind
tenacious memory
holding securities or commodities in expectation of a rise in prices
- Antonyms
- Examples
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is long on coffee
a long position in gold
(of speech sounds or syllables) of relatively long duration
- Antonyms
- Examples
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the English vowel sounds in ‘bate’, ‘beat’, ‘bite’, ‘boat’, ‘boot’ are long
involving substantial risk
- Examples
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long odds
planning prudently for the future
- Examples
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large goals that required farsighted policies
took a long view of the geopolitical issues
having or being more than normal or necessary
- Examples
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long on brains
in long supply
Adverb
for an extended time or at a distant time
- Examples
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a promotion long overdue
something long hoped for
More examples (5)
his name has long been forgotten
talked all night long
how long will you be gone?
arrived long before he was expected
it is long after your bedtime
for an extended distance
Verb
desire strongly or persistently