long

Etymology 1

From Middle English long, lang, from Old English long, lang (“long, tall, lasting”), from Proto-West Germanic *lang, from Proto-Germanic *langaz (“long”), from Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos (“long”). Cognate with Scots lang (“long”), North Frisian long, lung (“long”), Saterland Frisian loang (“long”), Norwegian, West Frisian, Dutch and German lang (“long”), Swedish lång (“long”), Icelandic langur (“long”), Portuguese longo (“long”), Spanish luengo (“long”), Latin longus (“long”), Russian дли́нный (dlínnyj), долго (dolgo), Sanskrit दीर्घ (dīrgha, “long”). The word exceptionally retains the Old English darkening of -a- before nasals. Though there are other such examples in Middle and Modern English (e.g. bond, song, throng, wrong), the o-form may have been reinforced by Old French long, from Latin longus, from the same Indo-European word. Doublet of lungo and lunge.

adj

1. Having much distance from one terminating point on an object or an area to another terminating point (usually applies to horizontal dimensions; see Usage Notes below).
   It's a long way from the Earth to the Moon.
   How long was your newborn baby?
   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. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess
2. Having great duration.
   The pyramids of Egypt have been around for a long time.
   I took a long look at the house, knowing it was for the last time.
3. Seeming to last a lot of time, due to being boring or tedious or tiring.
4. (Britain, dialect) Not short; tall.
   Bless 'em all. Bless 'em all. The long, the short and the tall. 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. 1940, Fred Godfrey (lyrics and music), “Bless 'Em All”performed by George Formby
5. (finance) Possessing or owning stocks, bonds, commodities, or other financial instruments with the aim of benefiting from an expected rise in their value.
   I'm long in DuPont.
   I have a long position in DuPont.
6. (cricket) Of a fielding position, close to the boundary (or closer to the boundary than the equivalent short position).
7. Passing or landing ahead of or beyond the intended target or location, as weapons fire or landing aircraft.
   The plane touched down long and overran the end of the runway.
   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. 10 March 2021, Drachinifel, 28:10 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN), archived from the original on 2022-11-07
8. (tennis, of a ball or a shot) Landing beyond the baseline, and therefore deemed to be out.
   That forehand is long.
9. (gambling) Of betting odds, offering a very large return for a small wager.
10. Occurring or coming after an extended interval; distant in time; far away.
11. (African-American Vernacular, slang, of money) In great supply; abundant.
    I'm talkin' 'bout...I'm talkin' 'bout that long money. 2011-12-18, “Ballin' Uncontrollably” (track 7), in King Mather's LP, performed by Eminem
    Me and broke niggas, we don't get along (Nah). Hair long (Long), money long (Yeah). 2012-11-08, “I'm Different” (track 6), in Based on a T.R.U. Story, performed by 2 Chainz
    Rent-a-cars we road run, money longer than train smoke. 2013-10-07, “No Regrets” (track 7), in My Name Is My Name, performed by Pusha T
    Money so long, it's offensive. 2016-11-24, “Upgrade You”performed by Kash Doll
12. (slang, MLE) Clipping of taking a long time.
    BOY:B, this is long for man, you know. B:Keep complaining. BOY:Fucking gemming it with these things (he continues collecting empty drinks cans) 2022-03-18, 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
    INCHEZ:Man this is long! We've been in here for time! 2023-01-15, Layton Williams, 12:51 from the start, in Freddy Syborn, director, Bad Education(Prison) (4), episode 3 (TV), spoken by Inchez (Anthony J. Abraham)
13. (slang, MLE, by extension) stupid; annoying; bullshit
    [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. 2015-09-18, “Brand New” (track 6), in Don't Panic, performed by Smoke Boys
    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! 2017-12-17, 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)
    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. 2022-03-18, 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)
    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 2023-02-18, Simba-xiv, “Reddit (subreddit:BlackPeopleTwitter)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)
14. (slang, MLE, by extension) serious; deadly.
    JAMIE:"Yo, if I see you man round here again, it is long for you!" 2022-03-18, 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)

noun

1. (linguistics) A long vowel.
   In French most vowels are half-long, and are only occasionally lengthened or shortened into full longs and shorts. 1877, Henry Sweet, A Handbook of Phonetics, volume 2, page 60
2. (prosody) A long syllable.
3. (music) A note formerly used in music, one half the length of a large, twice that of a breve.
4. (programming) 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.
   A long is typically 64 bits in a 32-bit environment.
5. (finance) An entity with a long position in an asset.
   Every uptick made the longs cheer.
6. (finance) An investor having a long position in a security.
7. (finance) A long-term investment.
   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. 1977, Jerome B. Cohen, Edward D. Zinbarg, Arthur Zeikel, Guide to Intelligent Investing, →OCLC, page 203
8. (Oxbridge, dated) Clipping of long vacation (“summer vacation”).
   "[…] Did I not forbid all these nicknames and all this Oxfordish, by proclamation, last Long." "Last Long?" "Hem! last protracted vacation." 1863, Charles Reade, Hard Cash

verb

1. (transitive, finance) To take a long position in.
   The left panel shows the profile of a portfolio consisting of longing a call and shorting a put. 2004, Thomas S. Y. Ho, Sang Bin Lee, Sang-bin Yi, The Oxford Guide to Financial Modeling, page 84

Etymology 2

From Middle English longe, lange, from Old English longe, lange, from the adjective (see above).

adv

1. (chiefly sports) Over a great distance in space.
   He threw the ball long.
2. For a particular duration.
   How long is it until the next bus arrives?
   He slept all day long.
3. For a lengthy duration (see usage notes).
   Will this interview take long?
   Paris has long been considered one of the most cultured cities in the world.
   She has known us as long as you.
   I haven't got long to live.
   By eight o'clock, the food will be long gone.
   They are in a hurry; they can't wait for too long.
   I've waited long enough.
   The world was awake to the 2nd of May, but Mayfair is not the world, and even the menials of Mayfair lie long abed. 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./4/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days
   Poems by Langston Hughes An Earth Song: 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. 1980, Alain LeRoy Locke, Harlem, Mecca of the New Negro, page 663
   I answer by saying that I have worked too long and hard now against segregated public accommodations to end up segregating my moral concern. 1991, James Melvin Washington, editor, A testament of hope: the essential writings and speeches of Martin Luther King, page 636
   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. 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3
   [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. 2013-07-20, “Out of the gloom”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845
   [Verse 1]:[…]Be there in five, man’s taking long. Are you still there? No fam, I’m already gone. 2021-08-19, “Drake”performed by Most Certi

Etymology 3

From Middle English longen, from Old English langian (“to long for, yearn after, grieve for, be pained, lengthen, grow longer, summon, belong”), from Proto-West Germanic *langōn, from Proto-Germanic *langōną (“to desire, long for”), from Proto-Indo-European *lengʷʰ- (“to be easy, be quick, jump, move around, vary”). Cognate with German langen (“to reach, be sufficient”), Swedish langa (“to push, pass by hand”), Icelandic langa (“to want, desire”), Dutch, German verlangen (“to desire, want, long for”).

verb

1. (intransitive) To await, aspire, desire greatly (something to occur or to be true).
   She longed for him to come back.
   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. 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

Etymology 4

From Middle English long, lang, an aphetic form of Middle English ilong, ylong, from Old English ġelong, ġelang (“along, belonging, depending, consequent”); the verb later reinterpreted as an aphetic form of belong.

adj

1. (archaic) On account of, because of.
   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. 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, Essays, II.8, page 224

verb

1. (archaic) To be appropriate to, to pertain or belong to.

Etymology 5

Shortening of longitude.

noun

1. Abbreviation of longitude.

Etymology 6

From Middle English longen, from Old English langian (“to belong, pertain”), from Old English *lang, which is of uncertain origin yet related to Old English ġelang (“dependent, attainable, present, belonging, consequent”), Old Saxon gilang (“ready, available”).

verb

1. (obsolete) To belong.