The Collaborative International Dictionary
Length \Length\ (l[e^]ngth), n. [OE. lengthe, AS. leng[eth], fr. lang, long, long; akin to D. lengte, Dan. l[ae]ngde, Sw. l["a]ngd, Icel. lengd. See Long, a. ]
The longest, or longer, dimension of any object, in distinction from breadth or width; extent of anything from end to end; the longest line which can be drawn through a body, parallel to its sides; as, the length of a church, or of a ship; the length of a rope or line.
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A portion of space or of time considered as measured by its length; -- often in the plural.
Large lengths of seas and shores.
--Shak.The future but a length behind the past.
--Dryden. The quality or state of being long, in space or time; extent; duration; as, some sea birds are remarkable for the length of their wings; he was tired by the length of the sermon, and the length of his walk.
A single piece or subdivision of a series, or of a number of long pieces which may be connected together; as, a length of pipe; a length of fence.
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Detail or amplification; unfolding; continuance as, to pursue a subject to a great length.
May Heaven, great monarch, still augment your bliss With length of days, and every day like this.
--Dryden. -
Distance. [Obs.] He had marched to the length of Exeter. --Clarendon. At length.
At or in the full extent; without abbreviation; as, let the name be inserted at length.
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At the end or conclusion; after a long period. See Syn. of At last, under Last.
At arm's length. See under Arm.
Wiktionary
prep.phr. 1 At a distance, away from one's body. 2 (context idiomatic English) Avoiding a close relationship.
WordNet
adv. at some distance; "keep someone at arm's length"
Usage examples of "at arm's length".
However, the bird, who had only been stunned, recovering himself, gave me so many boxes with his wings on both sides of my head and body, though I held him at arm's length, and was out of the reach of his claws, that I was twenty times thinking to let him go.
Unable to decide the nature of the object, and having neither torch nor candle, he tore a strip from the hem of his hempen burnoose, and lit the slow-burning cloth and held it aloft at arm's length before him.
He drew on his cigarette, glanced around in the shadows, looking for a couple of sticks, wondering if somehow he could make a cradle out of them and carry it at arm's length.
Unshed tears prickled at his eyes as he held the bigger man at arm's length.
Trooper after trooper lifted himself out of his hole, stepping to the rear, those with remaining ammunition firing to try to keep the Posleen at arm's length.
After they had gone perhaps fifty yards on the gentle acclivity, Furnham came to a pause and waited for Aispha, hoIding out the Doir at arm's length.
She dropped his deep blue blanket in the dust and held him at arm's length.
She lifted the staff and carried it across the chamber at arm's length as if it were a poisonous serpent.
When the deep clang from the temple belfry shivers over the garden and the city, and the answer of the horns and viols and voices peals out from the seven lodges by the garden gates, there issue from the seven doors of the temple long columns of masked and hooded priests in black, bearing at arm's length before them great golden bowls from which a curious steam rises.