furlong
(ˈfɜːlɒŋ)
Forms: 1 furlang, -ung, 2 -eng, 3–5 fur(e)lang(e, 4 ferlong, fourlonge, 4–5 for(e)lang(e, 4–6 -long(e, 4–5 fur(e)longe, 4– furlong. pl. 4–5 for-, furlong.
[OE. furlang str. neut., f. furh, furrow + lang, long a.]
1. Originally, the length of the furrow in the common field, which was theoretically regarded as a square containing ten acres. As a lineal measure, the furlong therefore varied according to the extent assigned at various times and places to the acre, but was usually understood to be equal to 40 poles (rods, perches). As early as the 9th c. it was regarded as the equivalent of the Roman stadium, which was 1/8 of a Roman mile; and hence furlong has always been used as a name for the eighth part of an English mile, whether this coincided with the agricultural measure so called or not. The present statute furlong is 220 yards, and is equal both to the eighth part of a statute mile, and to the side of a square of 10 statute acres. a. as a measure in current use. (Early examples are wanting.)
| c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 6693 .V. forlong he dede hem recoile. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 5 Er I hadde faren a fourlonge feyntise me hente. 14.. Sir Beues 752 (MS. M.) Ther was no hors in the world so stronge That myght ffolowe hym a fur longe. a 1400–50 Alexander 3856 A foure furelange or fyue it was of full brede. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ix. xi, Thenne he..departed his waye a furlonge. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 56 There is also diversitie what a Furlong should conteine in length. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. x. 48 Fifteene furlongs, that is, a mile and 7/8 parts. 1653 Walton Angler v. 128 For Gesner observes, the Otter smels a fish forty furlong off him in the water. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 15 About two furlongs out of Town. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., In Scotland the furlong is equal to forty falls. 1789 G. White Selborne xvi. (1853) 68 This noise may be heard a furlong or more. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xxix, The fresh and desperate onset bore The foes three furlongs back. 1847 Emerson Poems, Monadnoc, His day's ride is a furlong space. |
b. Antiq. as a rendering of L. stadium or Gr. στάδιον.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. i. xxv. (1890) 56 Se is þreora furlunga brad. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xxiv. 13 Syxtiᵹ furlanga fram hierusalem. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 1030 Twelue [thousand] forlonge space. 1382 Wyclif Luke xxiv. 13 A castel, that was fro Jerusalem in space of sixty furlongis. 1550 Bale Image Both Ch. iii. xxi. H h iij, A furlonge is the eyght parte of a myle and contayneth a hundreth and xxv. paces, which is in length vi. hundreth and xxv. fote. 1625–35 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. viii. (ed. 2) 195 A Furlong contains according to Herodotus 600 feet. 1760 Fawkes Hero & Leander 23 note, The narrowest Part of the Channel is about seven Stadia, or Furlongs. |
† c. furlong way: a short distance, hence the time taken in walking this, a brief space. Obs.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 974 Or hyt a forlonge way was olde. c 1386 ― Miller's T. 451 They sitten stille wel a furlong way. c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. ii. 91 Þenne take hem downe..and lete stonde a forlonge wey or ij. 1470–85 Malory Arthur v. v, I had leuer..that I hadde ben a forlonge way to fore hym. |
† 2. Used (on the analogy of 1 b) to render L. stadium in the sense of ‘the course for foot-races’. (Chiefly fig.) Obs.
The course for runners at Olympia was a stadium in length; hence the use of στάδιον, stadium in this sense.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. pr. iii. 93 (Camb. MS.) Yif a man renneþ in the stadie or in the forlong for the corone. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 258 Þei þat rennen in þe ferlong for þe pris. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 328 After the forlonge of thys presente lyfe. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (1531) 62 b, For every relygyous persone sholde renne in the forelonge of perfeccyon. |
3. An area of land a ‘furlong’ each way, containing ten acres.
| 1819 Rees Cycl. s.v., The furlong as a superficial measure, is generally 10 acres, according to the acre of different counties. |
† b. The eighth part of an acre. Obs.—0
Perh. only a blunder of Minsheu.
| 1617 Minsheu Ductor, Furlong..is otherwise the eight part of an acre. 1656–81 in Blount Glossogr. |
4. The headland of a common field. Obs. exc. dial.
| ? 854 Charter of æthelwolf of Wessex in Cod. Dipl. V. 111 Of twelf ækeran ut forð bufon scortan hlince æt ðæs furlanges ende. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1652) 10 One Furlong butting or Hadlanding upon other Furlongs. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Furlong, the road or boundary upon which the separate lots abut in an ‘open field’ or piece of unenclosed ground divided into several occupations. |
5. An indefinite division of an unenclosed field.
| 12.. Newminster Cartul. (1878) 122 Usque ad Gauelok furlang. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 424, I can fynde in a felde or in a fourlonge an hare. 1438 Nottingham Rec. II. 170 Quinta acra jacet super eundem furlong. [But is this 4?] 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 38 b, At a furlong called Dale furlong y⊇ whiche furlong conteyneth .xxx. landes and two heed landes. 1637 Harrison in Sheffield Gloss., A piece of land enclosed lying in furlongs. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Furlong, a division of an uninclosed cornfield. 1839 Stonehouse Axholme 302 Two selions of land containing one acre, lying in a furlong called Foxholes. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Furlong, an indefinite number of lands or leys, running parallel to each other. |
6. = land. (See quot. 1893.) Obs. exc. dial.
| 1660 Sharrock Vegetables 97 The land must be cast into furlongs, that the furrows may convey the water one to another into a general trench. 1893 Wiltsh. Gloss., Furlong..the strip of newly-ploughed land lying between two main furrows. |
7. ‘The line of direction of plowed lands’ (Marshall).
| 1787 W. Marshall Norfolk I. (1795) 131 Endeavouring to lay their ‘furlongs’ north-and-south, that the sun may have an equal influence on either side the narrow ridges. |