Meaning

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..

Definitions by Sense

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.
2. A unit of land area one furlong (sense 1) square (ten acres, or about four hectares).
3. An undefined portion of an unenclosed field.
4. (historical) Synonym of stadion (“a Greek unit of distance based on standardized footraces, equivalent to about 185.4 metres”).
5. Synonym of headland (“unploughed boundary of a field”).
6. Synonym of land (“the ground left unploughed between furrows”).
7. Synonym of land (“any of several portions into which a field is divided for ploughing”).

Example Sentences

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.

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.

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

[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.

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

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.

His day's ride is a furlong space, / His city tops a glimmering haze.

His [the racehorse Ten Broeck's] next appearance was in the Kentucky Derby, at Louisville, won by Aristides, but was unplaced. At the Fall meeting at Lexington he was again unsuccessful in the sweepstakes for three-year olds,^([sic]) but three days afterward he defeated Bob Woolley and others in another sweepstakes of a mile and five furlongs.

Word Forms

• furlongs
• furlong
• forlong

Synonyms for furlong

Related Words

When Should You Use Furlong?

Use furlong when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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