long ago


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long 1

 (lông, lŏng)
adj. long·er, long·est
1.
a. Extending or traveling a relatively great distance.
b. Having relatively great height; tall.
c. Having the greater length of two or the greatest length of several: the long edge of the door.
2. Of relatively great duration: a long time.
3. Of a specified linear extent or duration: a mile long; an hour long.
4. Made up of many members or items: a long shopping list.
5.
a. Extending beyond an average or standard: a long game.
b. Extending or landing beyond a given boundary, limit, or goal: Her first serve was long.
6. Tediously protracted; lengthy: a long speech.
7. Concerned with distant issues; far-reaching: took a long view of the geopolitical issues.
8. Involving substantial chance; risky: long odds.
9. Having an abundance or excess of: "politicians whose résumés are long on competence" (Margaret Garrard Warner).
10. Having a holding of a commodity or security in expectation of a rise in price: long on soybeans.
11.
a. Linguistics Having a comparatively great duration. Used of a vowel or consonant.
b. Grammar Relating to or being the English speech sounds (ā, ē, ī, ō, o͞o) that are tense vowels or diphthongs.
12. Being of relatively great duration. Used of a syllable in quantitative prosody.
adv. longer, longest
1. During or for an extended period of time: The promotion was long due.
2. At or to a considerable distance; far: She walked long past the end of the trail.
3. Beyond a given boundary, limit, or goal: hit the return long.
4. For or throughout a specified period: They talked all night long.
5. At a point of time distant from that referred to: That event took place long before we were born.
6. Into or in a long position, as of a commodity market.
n.
1. A long time: This won't take long.
2. Linguistics A long syllable, vowel, or consonant.
3. One who acquires holdings in a security or commodity in expectation of a rise in price.
4.
a. A garment size for a tall person.
b. longs Trousers extending to the feet or ankles.
Idioms:
any longer
For more time: can't wait any longer.
before long
Soon.
long ago
1. At a time or during a period well before the present: I read that book long ago.
2. A time well before the present: heroes of long ago.
long in the tooth
Growing old.
no longer
Not now as formerly: He no longer smokes.
not long for
Unlikely to remain for much more time in: not long for this world.
the long and the short of it
The substance or gist: You can look on the front page of the paper for the long and the short of it.

[Middle English, from Old English lang; see del- in Indo-European roots.]

long 2

 (lông, lŏng)
intr.v. longed, long·ing, longs
To have an earnest, heartfelt desire, especially for something beyond reach.

[Middle English longen, from Old English langian; see del- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adv.1.long ago - of the distant or comparatively distant past; "We met once long ago"; "they long ago forsook their nomadic life"; "left for work long ago"; "he has long since given up mountain climbing"; "This name has long since been forgotten"; "lang syne" is Scottish
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in classic literature ?
Now the people who lived in the British Isles long ago were not English.
My dream personality lived in the long ago, before ever man, as we know him, came to be; and my other and wake-a-day personality projected itself, to the extent of the knowledge of man's existence, into the substance of my dreams.
Not very long ago some one invented the assertion that there were only "Four Hundred" people in New York City who were really worth noticing.
It's all so long ago, and so much has happened, and we've grown so old, and so much is going to happen that I'm fairly frightened."
we shall be burnt to a cinder; we were baked through long ago.' So she took the bread-shovel and drew them all out.
"It's all pretty much as I used to imagine it long ago, when I wept over your inevitable marriage and our consequent parting," she laughed.
Kitty meanwhile had long ago been quite ready, and in her white dress and long veil and wreath of orange blossoms she was standing in the drawing-room of the Shtcherbatskys' house with her sister, Madame Lvova, who was her bridal-mother.
And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud by night Chilling my ANNABEL LEE; So that her high-born kinsmen came And bore her away from me, To shut her up, in a sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea.
There's nothing else much to be fond on, for my furnitur' went long ago. And you'd got to be very good once; I can't think how it's turned out the wrong way so!"
Shiv, who poured the harvest and made the winds to blow, Sitting at the doorways of a day of long ago, Gave to each his portion, food and toil and fate, From the King upon the guddee to the Beggar at the gate.
Long ago, the mice had a general council to consider what measures they could take to outwit their common enemy, the Cat.
She told me long ago." The old man hesitated, then went on, his lips twitching a little.