furlong

Etymology

PIE word *dlongʰos ) post at the Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey, England, United Kingdom, which indicates that racehorses passing this point are five furlongs from the finishing line.]] From Middle English furlong, forlong (“unit of distance about one-eighth of a mile; quantity of land equal to one square furlong; racetrack for foot races; foot race”) [and other forms], from Old English furlang, furlung, from furh (“a furrow”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *perḱ- (“to dig; to open; to rip up”) + lang (“long”, adjective) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos (“long”)), originally the typical length of a furrow in an average field.

noun

1. A unit of distance equal to one-eighth of a mile (220 yards, or 201.168 metres), now mainly used in measuring distances in farmland and horse racing.
   At first some intervening icebergs prevented Captain Warrens from distinctly seeing any thing except her masts but he was struck with the strange manner in which her sails were disposed, and with the dismantled aspect of her yards and rigging. She continued to go before the wind for a few furlongs, and then grounding upon the low icebergs, remained motionless. From “an article which recently appeared in one of the London Magazines”. 1 January 1829, “The Sketch Book. Danger of Sailing in High Latitudes.”, in The Cabinet of Instruction, Literature, and Amusement:[…], volume I, number 8, New York, N.Y.: Theodore Burling,[…], →OCLC, column 226
   His [the racehorse Ten Broeck's] next appearance was in the Kentucky Derby, at Louisville, won by Aristides, but was unplaced. At the Fall meeting at Lexington he was again unsuccessful in the sweepstakes for three-year olds, but three days afterward he defeated Bob Woolley and others in another sweepstakes of a mile and five furlongs. 28 September 1876, “Ten Broeck’s Victory”, in The New-York Times, volume XXVI, number 7813, New York, N.Y.: Raymond, Jones & Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9, column 4
   [Frankie] Dettori took a bold approach to Trawlerman's wide draw in stall 20, galloping alone and in a clear lead towards the far rail as his 19 opponents sorted themselves out on the inside. He eventually edged across as they turned out of the back, but his carefully worked plan had apparently been to little avail as the well-fancied Earl Of Tyrone edged ahead two furlongs out with Alfred Boucher, a winner on Wednesday's card, also gaining ground. 20 August 2022, Greg Wood, “Frankie Dettori goes his own way to take Ebor aboard Trawlerman”, in The Observer, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-09-26
2. (dated)
   1. A unit of land area one furlong (sense 1) square (ten acres, or about four hectares).
   2. (Britain, dialectal) An undefined portion of an unenclosed field.
3. (historical) Synonym of stadion (“a Greek unit of distance based on standardized footraces, equivalent to about 185.4 metres”)
4. (obsolete except Britain, dialectal, agriculture)
   1. Synonym of headland (“unploughed boundary of a field”)
   2. Synonym of land (“the ground left unploughed between furrows; any of several portions into which a field is divided for ploughing”)