furlong

plural furlongs · alternative forlong

1. A unit of distance equal to one-eighth of a mile (220 yards, or 201.168 metres), now mainly used in measuring distances in farmland and horse racing.

   [T]he Otter ſmels a fiſh forty furlong off him in the water; […]

   1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter V, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, page 128

   5 more examples

   Novv vvould I giue a thouſand furlongs of Sea, for an Acre of barren ground: Long heath, Brovvne firrs, any thing; the vvills aboue be done, but I vvould faine dye a dry death.

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 1, column 2

   And the winepreſſe vvas troden vvithout the citie, and blood came out of the vvinepreſſe, euen vnto the horſe bridles, by the ſpace of a thouſand and ſixe hundred furlongs.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 14:20, column 1

   [N]ovv before he had gone far, he entered into a very narrovv paſſage, vvhich vvas about a furlong off the Porters Lodge, and looking very narrovvly before him as he vvent, he eſpied tvvo Lions in the vvay.

   1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 49

   The fresh and desperate onset bore / The foes three furlongs back and more, / Leaving their noblest in their gore.

   1815, Walter Scott, “Canto Sixth”, in The Lord of the Isles, a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [F]or Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; by James Ballantyne and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza XXIX, page 262

   At first some intervening icebergs prevented Captain Warrens from distinctly seeing any thing except her masts but he was struck with the strange manner in which her sails were disposed, and with the dismantled aspect of her yards and rigging. She continued to go before the wind for a few furlongs, and then grounding upon the low icebergs, remained motionless.

   1829 January 1, “The Sketch Book. Danger of Sailing in High Latitudes.”, in The Cabinet of Instruction, Literature, and Amusement: […], volume I, number 8, New York, N.Y.: Theodore Burling, […], →OCLC, column 226

2. datedA unit of land area one furlong (sense 1) square (ten acres, or about four hectares).
3. UKdateddialectalAn undefined portion of an unenclosed field.
4. historicalSynonym of stadion (“a Greek unit of distance based on standardized footraces, equivalent to about 185.4 metres”).

   Synonyms: stade, stadium, stadion

5. dialectalobsolete except UKagricultureSynonym of headland (“unploughed boundary of a field”).

   Synonyms: headland

6. dialectalobsolete except UKagricultureSynonym of land (“the ground left unploughed between furrows”).

   Synonyms: land

7. dialectalobsolete except UKagricultureSynonym of land (“any of several portions into which a field is divided for ploughing”).

   Synonyms: land

plural Furlongs

1. countableuncountableA surname.
2. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Buckingham Township and Doylestown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States.