lengthy, a.
(ˈlɛŋθɪ)
Also 9 lengthey.
[f. length n. + -y. Before the 19th c. found only in American writers; in many of the early British instances it is referred to as an Americanism.
‘We have 10 examples from Jefferson between 1782 and 1786; Washington and A. Hamilton also use the word very frequently. T. Paine (quot. 1796), though of English birth, resided much in America.’—N.E.D.]
Characterized by length; having unusually great length. a. Of compositions, speeches, discussions, etc.: Extending to a great length; often with reproachful implication, prolix, tedious. Hence occas. of a writer or speaker.
| 1759 J. Adams Diary 3 Jan., I grow too minute and lengthy. 1773 Franklin Lett. Wks. 1887 V. 190 An unwillingness to read any thing about them [such remote countries as America] if it appears a little lengthy. 1793 Brit. Critic Nov. 286 We shall, at all times, with pleasure, receive from our transatlantic brethren real improvements of our common mother-tongue: but we shall hardly be induced to admit such phrases as that at p. 93—‘more lengthy’, for longer, or more diffuse. 1796 Paine Writ. (1895) III. 251 In the mean time the lengthy and drowsy writer of the pieces signed Camillus held himself in reserve to vindicate every thing. 1812 Southey in Q. Rev. VIII. 320 That, to borrow a trans-atlantic term, may truly be called a lengthy work. 1816 Bentham Chrestomathia App., Wks. 1843 VIII. 178 One most lengthy and perplext proposition. 1823 New Monthly Mag. VIII. 476. I must not be lengthy, though I have hardly skimmed the poems. 1827 Scott Chron. Canongate Introd. ii, The style of my grandsire..was rather lengthy, as our American friends say. 1834–43 Southey Doctor clx. (1862) 494 When he publishes what in America would be called a lengthy poem, with lengthy annotations. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxxviii, This address..was unusually lengthy for him. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. 379 After much lengthy correspondence. 1871 Freeman Hist. Ess. Ser. i. iii. 67 The lengthy pleadings in the great suit. 1879 Geo. Eliot Coll. Breakf. P. 200 But I grow lengthy. |
b. said with reference to physical length. rare. exc. U.S. and techn. of animals.
| 1760 P. Coffin in N.E. Hist. & Gen. Register (1855) IX. 341 There is an Hill..the most steep and lengthy to ascend which I have ever seen. 1795 in W. Guthrie's Syst. Mod. Geog. II. 330 The lengthy moss, depending on almost every branch. 1803 J. Davis Trav. U.S. 126 And is Jack Douglas there? said the horseman. He is a great, lengthy fellow. [Author's note: Lengthy is the American for long.] 1806 M. Lewis in Lewis & Clark's Exped. (1893) 994 note, Down a steep and lengthey hill. 1808 Pike Sources Mississ. ii. App. (1810) 4 Which would still leave the Arkansaw near 800 miles more lengthy than the White river. 1849 Thoreau Week Concord Riv. (1894) 248 Many a lengthy reach we've rowed. 1850 Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. vii. (1859) 101 Dealing his blows unsparingly..with all the force of his lengthy frame. 1878 H. M. Stanley Dark Cont. II. xii. 347 On our left..rose a lengthy and stupendous cliff line. 1890 ‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 312 He sees the steers grow glossy of hide, thicker, lengthier, ripen into marketable bullocks. 1893 Kennel Gaz. Aug. 213/3 A nice lengthy bitch. |