furlong
noun/ˈfɜːlɒŋ/
/ˈfɜːrlɔːŋ/
- (especially in horse racing) a unit for measuring distance, equal to 220 yards or 201 metres; one eighth of a mileWord OriginOld English furlang, from furh ‘furrow’ + lang ‘long’. The word originally denoted the length of a furrow in a common field (formally regarded as a square of ten acres). It was also used as the equivalent of the Roman stadium, one eighth of a Roman mile, which led to the current sense. Compare with stadium.
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