Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From a- +‎ lengthe.

Adverb

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alength (not comparable)

  1. At full length; lengthwise
    • 13th c., Guido delle Colonne, Historia destructionis Troiae, Page 154
      Þen gone forthe the grekes, graithet engynes,
      Batold hom all abrode vmbe the bare walles;
      Layn ladders alenght & oloft wonnen.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 14th c., John Lydgate, Troy Book: Book 3, 5115-6
      For lost she had bothe myght and strengthe,
      And plat she fil to the grounde alengthe
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1550, Thomas Nicolls (Translator), Thucydides, The hystory writtone by Thucidides the Athenyan of the warre, whiche was betwene the Peloponesians and the Athenyans, Book 4, pg. Cxviii
      [They] fa∣stened yt wyth yrone at bothe endes. And also alengthe [...] and to one of the endes they fastened wyth chaynes of yronne a greate cawdrone of brasse
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. For the whole length of
    • c. September 1306, Unknown composer, Song on the Execution of Sir Simon Fraser, (as given in 1885, Thomas Wright, The Political Songs of England: From the Reign of John to that of Edward II, pg. 65) 46-8
      Ne be he ner so stout,
      ȝet he bith y-soht out
      o brede and o leynthe.
      Be he never so stout
      Yet he is sought out
      Wide and far
  3. Far-off

See also

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