length
/lɛŋ(k)θ
/ /lɛn(t)θ /noun
1 [mass noun] The measurement or extent of something from end to end; the greater of two or the greatest of three dimensions of an object: the delta is twenty kilometres in length [count noun]: the fish reaches a length of 10 inches...
- Being around three to four inches in length they are also just the right size for tench fishing.
- Although seldom more than three inches in length, the hair may be cut to a quarter of an inch at the nape of the neck.
- The very biggest may have reached 40 metres in length and weighed close to 100 metric tons.
Synonyms
extent, extent lengthwise, distance, distance lengthwise, linear measure, span, reach;
area, expanse, stretch, range, scope
1.1The quality of being long: the length of the waiting list
1.2 [count noun] The length of a swimming pool as a measure of the distance swum: fifty lengths of the pool...
- Splitting her time between homes in Knightsbridge and Gloucestershire, she swims her daily 30 lengths in a swimming pool fitted with underwater speakers.
- Keith Green, of Robin Close, Warminster is to swim 65 lengths of the Kingdown swimming pool in Warminster for MacMillan Cancer Relief.
- Two years ago, Kevin O'Donnell could barely swim 12 lengths of his local swimming pool and would drag himself totally exhausted from the water.
1.3 [count noun] The length of a horse, boat, etc., as a measure of the lead in a race: the mare won the race by seven lengths...
- The bay colt won a maiden race by seven lengths at Del Mar on August 17 in his second career start.
- They led the whole race finishing a boat length ahead of the Irish.
- As they moved through the middle of the race the Evers-Swindells had extended their lead to a boat length over Germany.
1.4The extent of a garment in a vertical direction when worn: the length of her skirt...
- Lines, whether they are stripes in the print, seams or zippers, can add width or length to the garment.
- It's really a matter of choosing the skirt shape and length which best suits your figure and shows off your assets.
- Her outfit consisted of a simple skirt of average length, a long-sleeved shirt, and casual makeup.
1.5The full distance that a thing extends for: the muscles running the length of my spine...
- Walking down to the legal precinct this morning the full two-block length of Hyde Park was beautiful.
- She was dressed in a long peachy pink dress that hugged her bust tightly, and was long and loose for the rest of the garment's length.
1.6 (one's length) The full extent of one’s body: he awkwardly lowered his length into the small car
1.7 Prosody & Phonetics The metrical quantity or duration of a vowel or syllable: the length of the syllable is isomorphic with the length of the syllabic vowel...
- As Navajo is a tone language, an error in tone or vowel length can be embarrassing to the listener.
- In our research, stress is treated as a function of syllable length.
2The amount of time occupied by something: delivery must be within a reasonable length of time...
- Child benefits will be tied to the length of service and amount of contributions paid until the baby is born.
- The tilt of the earth not only gives us the changing day lengths, but the seasons as well.
- Day length is a stable seasonal cue and controls biological changes in a host of species.
Synonyms
period, duration, stretch, term, span
3A piece or stretch of something: a length of brown satin the surviving length of track...
- Maria carefully rolled the piece, winding a length of sticky tape around the tube, stowing it in her bag.
- Suddenly he was behind me, a length of white cord stretched tightly between his two hands.
- ‘You can still see pebbles in the stone,’ says Gerry, caressing the surface of a length of wall down by Kaleyard's Gate.
Synonyms
piece, swatch, portion, section, measure, segment, roll
4An extreme to which a course of action is taken: they go to great lengths to avoid the press...
- Since I decided to argue against this form of feminism in my first essay for the course, I had to go to great lengths to hide this book from my younger siblings throughout reading week.
- Some of them deliberately cultivate an extremely casual look, and go to great lengths to sport outlandish hairstyles.
- I told Sean I go to great lengths to look like his mom.
Synonyms
do absolutely anything, go to any extreme, go to any limits, observe no limits
5 Cricket The distance from the batsman at which a well-bowled ball pitches: Lewis tended to bowl short of a length...
- The score had moved on to 168 for 1 in the 36th over when Sachin Tendulkar bowled a ball just short of a length outside off-stump.
- He learnt quickly, and kept it on a good length or just short - on a pitch of varying bounce, that was the perfect way to bowl.
- For reasons of balance alone, the sight of Lee making the ball rear from a length was a refreshing sight.
6(In bridge or whist) the number of cards of a suit held in one’s hand, especially when five or more: to open one heart with equal length in hearts and spades is in the modern Acol style...
- For this purpose, a longer trump suit is better than a shorter, and a trump holding in clubs is better than one of the same length in an unstated suit, even if the first player had in fact a club holding.
- A sequence can be beaten either by a higher sequence of the same length in the same suit or by any sequence of the same length in a higher suit.
- In choosing between suits of the same length, do not choose a suit with very high cards in it, as these may well win tricks even if they are not trumps.
Phrases
at length
the length and breadth of
Origin
Old English lengthu, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch lengte, also to long1.