overlong

English

Alternative forms

  • over-long

Etymology

over- + long

Adjective

overlong

  1. Too long.
    • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act V, Scene 3,
      O, hold me not with silence over-long!
    • 1697, William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World, London: James Knapton, Chapter 13, p. 351,
      As the Island Mindanao lies very convenient for Trade, so considering its distance, the way thither may not be over long and tiresome.
    • 2004, Andrea Levy, Small Island, London: Review, Chapter Twenty-six, p. 275,
      The next minute the little boy, still in his overlong trousers, was being dragged out of the house by the warden who had him by the ear.

Translations

Adverb

overlong (comparative more overlong, superlative most overlong)

  1. Too long, for an excessively long time.
    • 1613, John Florio (translator), Essays by Michel de Montaigne, London: Edward Blount and William Barret, Book 2, Chapter 29, pp. 396-397,
      [] she casteth the rest into the fire, and there withall sodainely flings herselfe into it: Which is no sooner done, but the people cast great store of Faggots and Billets vpon hir, lest she should languish over-long []
    • 1935, Pearl S. Buck, A House Divided, London: Methuen, Part 1, pp. 54-55,
      [] his wandering restless glance lingered over-long even on his girl cousin, so that his pretty sharp-voiced wife recalled him with a little sneer she slipped sidewise into something else she said.
    • 2002, J. M. Coetzee, Youth, London: Secker & Warburg, Chapter Twenty, p. 165,
      He does not need to think overlong to know what the right thing is.
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