furlong

Meanings

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. 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”).

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

Etymology

PIE word *dlongʰos From Middle English furlong, forlong (“unit of distance about one-eighth of a mile; quantity of land equal to one square furlong; racetrack for foot races; foot race”) [and other forms], from Old English furlang, furlung, from furh (“a furrow”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *perḱ- (“to dig; to open; to rip up”) + lang (“long”, adjective) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos (“long”)), originally the typical length of a furrow in an average field.