The word shows the regular historical change ofa too before certain consonant clusters such asng (compare with other examples in Middle and Modern English such asbond,song,throng, andwrong). Theo-form may have also been reinforced byOld Frenchlong, fromLatinlongus, from the same Indo-European word.Doublet oflungo andlunge.
We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down thelong 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 eccentricallylong elf-locks and oiled black curls.
Travelling or extending toogreat adistance in space.
The plane touched downlong and overran the end of the runway.
2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 28:10 from the start, inGuadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN)[2], archived fromthe original on7 November 2022:
Juneau was making good time with the other surviving U.S. Navy ships, despite her damage, when theI-26 spotted her and sent a salvo of Type 95 torpedoes in her direction. Passing between theHelena andSan Francisco, some indication being they had actually beenshot at theSan Francisco and gonelong becauseSan Francisco was travelling significantly slower than expected, they nonetheless hitJuneau and detonated the ship’s magazine.
(sports, of a ball or shot) Going beyond the intended target.
That forehand waslong. It landed two feet beyond the baseline.
The pass waslong and was gathered by the opposing goalkeeper.
I had occasion […] to make a somewhatlong 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.
What I suffered with that rein for fourlong 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.
1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, inZollenstein, New York, N.Y.:D. Appleton & Company,→OCLC:
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.
ButCampbell 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 notlong.
2022 March 18, Ronan Bennett, Gerry Jackson, Tyrone Rashard, Sagirah Gammon, 00:35:44 from the start, in Brady Hood, director,Top Boy (Good Morals) (4), episode 1 (TV), spoken by unnamed boy, girl called B:
BOY: B, this islong for man, you know. B: Keep complaining. BOY: Fucking gemming it with these things (he continues collecting empty drinks cans).
2023 January 15, Layton Williams, 12:51 from the start, in Freddy Syborn, director,Bad Education (Prison) (4), episode 3 (TV), spoken by Inchez (Anthony J. Abraham):
INCHEZ: Man this islong! We’ve been in here for time!
2015 September 18, “Brand New” (track 6), inDon't Panic[10], performed bySmoke Boys:
[Verse 1: Sleeks]: Keep thinking about Ps that I need but it’slong. All these things that I've done in the streets got me on my knees trying to reason with God. B-B beefin’ islong but I might still greeze up a Don.
2017 December 17,Guz Khan, Andy Milligan, “Upper Room” (00:38 from the start), in Ollie Parsons, director,Man Like Mobeen (1), episode 3 (TV), spoken by Mobeen Deen (Guz Khan):
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 solong!
2022 March 18, Ronan Bennett, Gerry Jackson, Tyrone Rashard, Sagirah Gammon, 00:15:46 from the start, in Brady Hood, director,Top Boy (Good Morals) (4), episode 1 (TV), spoken by Dushane (Ashley Walters):
DUSHANE: I’m stepping back from the roads now. All of that shit islong! And by next year, I want to be completely legit, then it’s just me, you and Tish.
2023 February 18, Simba-xiv, “Most Guys Know That They're[sic] Friends Aren't Shit With Women”, inReddit (subreddit: BlackPeopleTwitter)[11]:
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 alllong
2022 March 18, Ronan Bennett, Gerry Jackson, Tyrone Rashard, 32:20 from the start, in William Stefan Smith, director,Top Boy (Prove Yourself) (4), episode 8 (TV), spoken by Jamie (Micheal Ward):
JAMIE: Yo, if I see you man round here again, it islong for you!
Wide may be used instead oflong when referring to a left-to-right horizontal dimension, or to a horizontal dimension shorter than that described aslong (for example, a river that iswide andlong).Deep may be used for a horizontal front-to-back dimension.
Tall orhigh are usually used instead oflong when referring to positivevertical dimension (upwards), anddeep when referring to negative vertical dimension (downwards).
(finance) A long-maturity security, such as a ten- or twenty-year bond.
1977, Jerome B. Cohen, Edward D. Zinbarg, Arthur Zeikel,Guide to Intelligent Investing,→OCLC,page203:
Likewise, if borrowers prefer to sell short-maturity issues at the time lenders prefer to invest inlongs, as is the case when interest rates are expected to fall, longer maturity issues will tend to yield less than shorter maturity issues.
Hedge funds are constrained in how much leverage they can utilize, in part because the futures contracts they are shorting against their Treasurylongs have significant initial margin requirements.
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 headslong 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 islong 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.
(placed by itself after a positive verb,rare) For a long time.
It’s an earth song,— And I’ve been waitinglong for an earth song. It’s a spring song,— And I’ve been waitinglong for a spring song.[…] I have been waitinglong for this spring song.
My liefe (ſayd ſhe) ye know, thatlong 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.
2021 August 19, “Drake”[13]performed by Most Certi:
[Verse 1]:[…]Be there in five, man’s takinglong. Are you still there? No fam, I’m already gone.
The use oflong with the sensea long time (found as a complement of verbs liketake,have (got),need,spend,give,be or of the prepositionsfor orbefore) is normally restricted to questions and negative statements.[1] In other situations, the phrasea long time is used instead:
Does it takelong?
— No, it doesn't takelong.
(nonstandard)— Yes, it takeslong.
— Yes, it takesa long time.
— Yes, it takes far toolong.
This restriction does not apply when "long" is modified by an adverb such astoo orenough. It also does not apply when "long" is used as a premodifier of a verb, participle, adjective, preposition or adverb with the sense "for a long time".
The Rabbit sighed. He thought it would be a long time before this magic called Real happened to him. Helonged 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.
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 whatlongs there to:[…]
Umberto Ansaldo; Stephen Matthews; Geoff Smith (2010), “China Coast Pidgin: Texts and contexts”, inJournal of Pidgin and Creole Languages[14], volume25, number 1,→DOI, pages63-94
^Ó Cuív, Brian (1968),The Irish of West Muskerry, Co. Cork: A Phonetic Study, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies,→ISBN, section 401, page120; reprinted1988
Dinneen, Patrick S. (1927), “long”, inFoclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 2nd edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society,page675; reprinted with additions1996,→ISBN
Unlike in standard English, in Jamaican creole the adverblong, when it meansfor a lengthy duration, is used freely in questions and statements, whether positive or negative.
Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the criticaltonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.
These lights must risein the sky to cast light toward the ground.
Used to mark indirect objects, or direct objects ofintransitive verbs, where English would useto
1989,Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea,Jenesis1:22:
Na God i mekim gutpela tok bilong givim stronglong ol. Em i tokim ol olsem, “Yupela ol kain kain samting bilong solwara, yupela i mas kamap planti na pulapim olgeta hap bilong solwara. Na yupela ol pisin, yupela i mas kamap planti long graun.”
And God made a good speech to give strengthto them. He said to them: "You varied things of the ocean, you must multiply and fill every part of the sea. And you birds, you must multiply on earth.
Used to mark spatial direct objects that something is oriented in the manner opposite of, extracted from, or away from, where English would usefrom orout of
1989,Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea,Jenesis2:22:
Orait God i wokim wanpela merilong dispela bun em i bin kisimlong man, na bihain em i bringim meri i go long man.
Then God made a womanout of that bone he had takenfrom the man, and later he brought the woman to go to the man.
Used to marktemporal direct objects in which a condition lasts for a certain duration of time, where English would usefor
1989,Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea,Jenesis3:14:
Na God, Bikpela i tokim snek olsem, “Yu bin mekim dispela pasin nogut, olsem na nau mi gat strongpela tok bilong daunim yu. Bai yu gat bikpela hevi. Hevi yu karim bai i winim hevi bilong olgeta arapela animal. Nau nalong olgeta taim bihain bai yu wokabaut long bel bilong yu tasol. Na bai yu kaikai das bilong graun.
And the Lord God said to the snake: "You did a bad deed, and so I have a powerful curse for you. You will have a great weight. The wight you carry will exceed that of any all animals. Now, andfor all times, you will only walk on your stomach. And you will eat the dirt of the earth.
Used to mark a verb whose subject is the direct object of another verb, where English would useto orfrom
1989,Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea,Jenesis3:17:
Na God i tokim Adam olsem, “Yu bin harim tok bilong meri bilong yu, na yu bin kaikai pikinini bilong dispela diwai mi bin tambuim yulong kaikai. Olsem na nau bai mi bagarapim graun, na ol kaikai bai i no inap kamap gut long en. Oltaim bai yu wok hat tru bilong mekim kaikai i kamap long graun.
And God said to Adam: "You listened to what your woman said, and you ate a fruit of this tree which I have forbidden youfrom eating. And so I will now corrupt the earth, and food will not grow well enough. You will work very hard forever to make food grow in the ground.
Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page116
