Slow in passing; causing weariness by length or duration; lingering; as, long hours of watching.

Prolonged, or relatively more prolonged, in utterance; -- said of vowels and syllables. See Short, a., 13, and Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 22, 30.

A long sound, syllable, or vowel.

The longest dimension; the greatest extent; -- in the phrase, the long and the short of it, that is, the sum and substance of it.

To a great extent in space; as, a long drawn out line.

To a great extent in time; during a long time.

At a point of duration far distant, either prior or posterior; as, not long before; not long after; long before the foundation of Rome; long after the Conquest.

Through the whole extent or duration.

Through an extent of time, more or less; -- only in question; as, how long will you be gone?

primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified; "a long life"; "a long boring speech"; "a long time"; "a long friendship"; "a long game"; "long ago"; "an hour long"

primarily spatial sense; of relatively great or greater than average spatial extension or extension as specified; "a long road"; "a long distance"; "contained many long words"; "ten miles long"

of relatively great height; "a race of long gaunt men"- Sherwood Anderson; "looked out the long French windows"

of speech sounds (especially vowels) of relatively long duration (as e.g. the English vowel sounds in `bate', `beat', `bite', `boat', `boot')

used of syllables that are unaccented or of relatively long duration