long

the long arm of coincidence: seearm.

the long arm of the law: seearm.

as long as your arm: seearm.

by a long chalk: seechalk.

by a long shot: seeshot.

how long is a piece of string?: seestring.

in the long run (or term) over a long period of time; eventually.

1997New Scientist But as the economist Maynard Keynes pointed out, in the long run we are all dead.

it's as broad as it's long: seebroad.

the long and (the) short of it all that can or need be said.

2002Jerzy PilchHis Current Woman The long and the short of it will be that for weeks on end everybody will be offended with everybody else to the point that no one will be speaking to anyone.

long home death. euphemistic, dated

☞ The expression is based on the idea of the soul's destination after death.

long in the tooth rather old.

☞ This phrase was originally used of horses, referring to the way their gums recede with age.

long time no see it's a long time since we last met (used as a greeting). informal

☞ This idiom developed as a humorous imitation of broken English spoken by a Native American.

night of the long knives: seenight.

not be long for this world have only a short time to live.

2000Patrick McGrathMartha Peake As he turned toward the door I saw at once that he could not be long for this world, so frail did he appear.

not by a long shot: seeshot.

over (or for) the long haul over (or for) an extended period of time. chiefly North American

put something on the long finger: seefinger.

so long

1 goodbye till we meet again. informal

2 in the meanwhile. South African

☞ In its second sense, the expression is a translation of Afrikaans solank.

to cut a long story short: seeshort.