long

Less common meanings

11. 11
    held (vowel)adjective

    Of a vowel or syllable, held for a relatively long time; in teaching English, of a vowel letter, pronounced like the name of the letter.

    In Latin verse, a syllable counts as long if its vowel is long or if two consonants follow it.

    Adding a final e turns the short i in "kit" into the long i in "kite".

    UsageCommon in a long vowel and with letter names: a long a, a long o. The partner is short.

    Oppositeshort

    Note

    Two traditions share the word. In phonetics and in Latin verse, long means held longer, a matter of time. In English phonics it is a label: the long i of kite is a different sound from the i of kit, not the same one stretched, and it matches the letter's name. Its partner in both is short. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • Phonetic length concerns the relative duration of sounds. brucehayes.org
    • In Latin versification, vowel and syllable quantity concerns pronunciation time and distinguishes long from short. dcc.dickinson.edu
    • English phonics long and short vowels differ in sound quality rather than merely duration. en.wikipedia.org
    • In phonics, long i has the sound of the letter's name. naeyc.org
    • Short is the corresponding label in phonics as well as in quantity terminology. en.wikipedia.org
12. 12
    far (sport)adverb

    Of hitting, kicking or throwing, chiefly in sport, a great distance or far.

    She can hit long but not accurately.

    Their kicker can boot it long, sixty yards on a good day.

    Similarfar

    Oppositeshort

    Note

    Sport keeps this adverb where everyday speech prefers far or a long way: hit the ball long, throw long, go long. When the distance becomes a fault, the overhit adverb takes over.

13. 13
    missed (too far)adjective

    Of a ball, shot, missile, landing or drop, going past the intended target, line or point.

    Two of her serves were long.

    The cross was long and drifted out of play.

    UsageAfter the verb, of a shot or ball: her serve was long, the cross was long.

    Oppositeshort

    Note

    A verdict on a shot rather than a description of it. Its partner, the overhit adverb, attaches to the verb instead: she hit her return long.

14. 14
    adverb

    In sport, beyond the target, past the line or the hole, from an overhit shot.

    He hit his approach long, and the ball rolled off the back of the green.

    She overhit the lob and sent it long by a yard.

    UsageMostly go long or hit it long: the serve went long.

    Similarfar

    Oppositeshort

    Note

    Distance punished rather than praised: she hit her return long and lost the point. The presence of a target is what turns far into too far. The adjective for an overhit ball says the same thing of the ball itself, while this adverb says it of the hitting. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • In tennis, a return that lands beyond the baseline loses the point; the example illustrates this rule without identifying an actual event. itftennis.com
15. 15
    betting oddsadjective

    In gambling, of odds, high, offering a large return on a small stake because the outcome is unlikely.

    At those long odds, a small bet could pay for the holiday.

    The odds were long, but she backed him anyway.

    UsageMostly long odds, set against short odds on the favorite.

    Similarhigh

    Oppositeshort

    Note

    A bookmaker's measure in which the payout grows long while the chance shrinks. Short odds go with the favorite, and long odds go with the outsider. Keep it apart from the investor's position. Long odds describe an unlikely outcome; a long position simply means owning the asset. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Long odds indicate a low expected chance of success and offer a large return relative to the stake if successful. thejockeyclub.co.uk
    • The favorite has the shortest odds. int.thejockeyclub.co.uk
    • An outsider is offered long odds and is considered unlikely to win. int.thejockeyclub.co.uk
    • A long position in a security means owning that security. investor.gov
16. 16
    owning (finance)adjective

    In finance, having bought and held an asset so as to profit if its price rises.

    Most investors are long by default.

    She went long gold before the rally.

    UsageBe long a stock or go long; the opposite is short.

    Oppositeshort

    Note

    The opposite is short, the bet on a fall. The same idea becomes a person in the noun for holders and an action in the verb of buying in. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • A short position is the opposite of a long position and generally profits from a price fall. investor.gov
17. 17
    adjectivedatedIrelandUK

    Of a person, tall rather than short.

    She was a long girl, all elbows and knees.

    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.

    1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, Zollenstein

    Similartall, lanky, rangy, gangling

    Oppositeshort

    Note

    An older way of saying tall, still heard in Britain and Ireland but now dated. Old English already used the word for height. A 1940 song line keeps it in a list beside its rivals for height. Today a phrase like long and stringy sounds old-fashioned or literary. For everyday description of a person's height, tall is the safer choice.

18. 18
    east-west coordinatenounabbreviation

    Short for longitude: a position east or west of the prime meridian, measured in degrees and usually written beside lat.

    Write the long with a minus sign for west.

    The GPS log gives lat, long, and altitude.

    Note

    A shortening of longitude, which came through French from Latin longus, a distant cousin of the English adjective, and the full word could once mean simply "length." It nearly always travels with lat, giving east–west position beside north–south in coordinates, logs and data tables. Keeping the pair together prevents it being read as the everyday adjective. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Long is a shortening of longitude. en.wiktionary.org
    • Longitude came through French from Latin longus, via longitudo. en.wiktionary.org
    • Latin longus is cognate with the English adjective long. en.wiktionary.org
    • Longitude formerly meant length. en.wiktionary.org
19. 19
    nouncountable

    In finance, a holder of a long position, an investor who owns the asset and gains if it rises, usually plural, opposed to the shorts: the longs took profits at the open.

    The longs and the shorts fought over every tick.

    A patient long can wait out a bad quarter.

    Similarbull

    Oppositeshort

    Note

    Markets turn positions into crowds. The longs are the people holding for a rise, the ones who cheer every uptick. Bull names the same investor by outlook; this word names them by what they hold. It is mostly used in the plural and is formed from the adjective for holding. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The financial noun long is formed from the financial adjective long. This is supported by Wiktionary’s grouping of both senses under the same etymology and their matching meanings. en.wiktionary.org
20. 20
    verbtransitive

    In finance, to buy an asset in expectation of a price rise, the counterpart of short.

    You can long the bond and short the stock at once.

    The desk longs whatever the model favors.

    Similarbuy

    Oppositeshort

    Note

    Jargon that turns a position into a verb. To long an asset is to buy it for a rise, just as to short it is to bet on a fall, and the two often appear together: longing a call and shorting a put. Its forms longs, longing and longed collide with the verb of yearning, a separate word. Only context tells them apart.

21. 21
    integer typenouncountable

    In programming, an integer type at least as wide as an int and often wider, commonly 64 bits, used for large whole numbers.

    Multiplying two ints can overflow, so use a long.

    A long holds the file size without trouble.

    Note

    A programmer's type name, defined in C and C++ by its rank rather than a fixed size. It is at least as wide as an int and no wider than a long long, and on some systems it is the same size as an int. Its exact width there depends on the environment, which is why statements about it are usually hedged with "typically." In speech it works as a plain noun: declare it a long, or cast to a long. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • Qualify the description as applying to C; Java long has a fixed 64-bit range. docs.oracle.com
    • In C, long has a specified integer conversion rank. open-std.org
    • In C and C++, long is at least as wide as int and no wider than long long. eel.is
    • Some implementations give int and long the same size. learn.microsoft.com
    • In C, its exact width depends on the implementation. docs.oracle.com
22. 22
    nouncountable

    In finance, a long-dated security, a bond of ten, twenty, or thirty years, usually in the plural and set against shorts: the fund moved out of shorts into longs.

    Longs fell sharply when inflation picked up.

    The fund sold its shorts and moved into longs.

    Oppositeshort

    Note

    Bond desks sort securities by maturity, and this noun names the far end: the ten- and twenty-year issues. A 1977 investing guide shows why the label matters. When lenders crowd into longs because interest rates are expected to fall, those longer issues tend to yield less than short ones. Like its opposite, shorts, the word usually appears in the plural. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Longs can denote long-maturity securities, including ten- and twenty-year bonds. en.wiktionary.org
    • The cited investing guide was first published in 1977. openlibrary.org
    • The guide explains that lenders' preference for longs when interest rates are expected to fall can make longer-maturity issues yield less than shorter ones. en.wiktionary.org
23. 23
    nouncountable

    In linguistics and verse, a long vowel or a long (heavy) syllable, usually in the plural and paired with shorts.

    Modern Latin textbooks mark the longs with a macron over the vowel.

    In this meter, two shorts can take the place of one long.

    Oppositeshort

    Note

    Phoneticians' shorthand. Once vowels are understood, the adjective stands alone as a noun and takes a plural: longs and shorts. Henry Sweet in 1877 even grades it, describing French vowels as mostly half-long and only occasionally lengthened into full longs. The pairing with shorts is nearly constant, and the long syllable of verse works the same way. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Henry Sweet's A Handbook of Phonetics was published in 1877; its title page bears that date. archive.org
    • Sweet describes most French vowels as half-long and only occasionally lengthened into full longs. archive.org
24. 24
    paper sizeadjectiveCanadaUS

    Of paper or a page layout, a sheet size taller than letter but shorter than legal.

    The form only fits on long paper.

    Grab a ream of long bond paper from the supply room; the forms won't fit on letter.

    Note

    A paper size named by its shape. The sheet keeps the familiar 8½-inch width and gains height, so the word describes its long side. In the US and Canada it appears in printer settings and stationery orders, often as a bare noun, as in a ream of long. In some places the 14-inch size can also go by this word. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The 13-inch sheet retains letter paper's 8½-inch width while increasing its height. support.brother.com
    • The 8½-by-13-inch paper-size sense is identified with the US and Canada. en.wiktionary.org
    • Long can also designate a 14-inch paper size. en.wiktionary.org
25. 25
    penis sizeadjectivecolloquial

    Of a man, well endowed; nearly always used after a verb and as a joke.

    She giggled and told her friends that her new boyfriend was long, and she wasn't talking about his height.

    Not every tall man is long, she said.

    Similarwell-endowed, hung

26. 26
    plentiful (money)adjectiveslang

    In African-American Vernacular English, of money, abundant or plentiful.

    They've got long money and short memories.

    Rent's no worry when your money is long.

    Similarplentiful, abundant

    Oppositeshort, tight, scarce

    Note

    Hip-hop's measure of wealth, slang from African-American Vernacular English that attaches almost only to money. It can come before the noun (long money) or after it (money long). It also takes a playful comparative: Kodak Black measures his money against Pinocchio's nose, and Pusha T against the plume behind a locomotive. Outside that register it reads as borrowed.

27. 27
    cricketadjective

    In cricket, of a fielding position, placed deep toward the boundary rather than near the batter.

    The captain pushed a fielder back to long off.

    Long leg is where the hook shot goes.

    Oppositeshort

    Note

    Cricket names many of its fielding positions in pairs, and this word marks the deep member of a pair, out toward the boundary. Short marks its counterpart nearer the bat. The adjective has fused into the position names themselves, such as long on, long off and long leg, so it rarely appears as a free-standing description. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • Long identifies a position near the boundary, contrasted with an equivalent short position. en.wiktionary.org
    • Short indicates a position closer to the batter. en.wikipedia.org
    • Long on is a named cricket fielding position. en.wiktionary.org
    • Long off is a named cricket fielding position. en.wiktionary.org
    • Long leg is a named cricket fielding position. en.wikipedia.org
28. 28
    summer breaknoundatedabbreviationclipping

    Short for long vacation: in dated Oxbridge slang, the long summer break between one academic year and the next.

    They spent the Long walking in Switzerland.

    The college is empty in the long.

    Note

    Oxbridge talk for the summer break between academic years, now dated and often capitalized. It was insider language even in 1863: in Charles Reade's Hard Cash, "last Long" has to be explained to a puzzled listener as "last protracted vacation." The full form, long vacation, names the break from June to October. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • Long is an Oxbridge clipping of long vacation, meaning the summer vacation. en.wiktionary.org
    • The long vacation falls between academic years. spi.ox.ac.uk
    • Hard Cash was written by Charles Reade and first published in 1863. en.wikipedia.org
    • The novel presents Long as Oxford jargon: Julia says 'last Long' and explains it to her mother as 'last protracted vacation.' gutenberg.org
    • The Long Vacation runs from June to October. intranet.pmb.ox.ac.uk
29. 29
    note valuenouncountable

    In early music notation, a note value above the breve, worth two or three breves depending on the mode.

    Scribes drew the long as a square with a tail.

    The piece closes on a long.

    Note

    Its length was never fixed: in the rhythmic modes of medieval music it could divide into two parts or into three, and the larger value called a large stood above it in the same way. Since the value has dropped out of use, the word survives only in the study of early music, as in a medieval motet written in longs and breves. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • In medieval notation, the long had a variable value of two or three breves. en.wikipedia.org
    • The larger note value was called a large. en.wikipedia.org
    • A large could similarly contain two or three longs. en.wikipedia.org
30. 30
    adjectivedialectalMulticultural London English

    Tediously slow, dragging on for ages.
31. 31
    adjectivedialectalMulticultural London English

    Irritating, pointless, or nonsensical.
32. 32
    adjectivedialectalMulticultural London English

    Grave and dangerous, possibly fatal.
33. 33
    adjectivearchaic

    Owing to, as a result of, usually in the phrase 'long 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, Essays
34. 34
    verbarchaic

    To be fitting for, connected with, part of, or the property of.

    Tis well, and hold your owne in any case / With such austeritie as longeth to a father.

    c. 1590, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”