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Long vs Slow - What's the difference?

long | slow |

As nouns the difference between long and slow

is that long is hair; fur; coat while slow is someone who is slow; a sluggard.

As an adjective slow is

taking a long time to move or go a short distance, or to perform an action; not quick in motion; proceeding at a low speed.

As a verb slow is

to make (something) run, move, etc less quickly; to reduce the speed of.

As an adverb slow is

slowly.

long

English

(wikipedia long)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) long, lang, from (etyl) longe, long, .

Adjective

(er)
  • Having much distance from one terminating point on an object or an area to another terminating point .
  • :
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith.}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=17 citation , passage=The face which emerged was not reassuring. […]. He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls.}}
  • Having great duration.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Out of the gloom , passage=[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.}}
  • Seemingly lasting a lot of time, because it is boring or tedious or tiring.
  • *1877 , (Anna Sewell), (Black Beauty), Chapter 23
  • *:What I suffered with that rein for four long months in my lady's carriage, it would be hard to describe, but I am quite sure that, had it lasted much longer, either my health or my temper would have given way.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.}}
  • Not short; tall.
  • *
  • *:The colonel and his sponsor made a queer contrast: Greystone [the sponsor] long and stringy, with a face that seemed as if a cold wind was eternally playing on it.
  • (label) Possessing or owning stocks, bonds, commodities or other financial instruments with the aim of benefiting of the expected rise in their value.
  • :
  • (label) Of a fielding position, close to the boundary (or closer to the boundary than the equivalent short position).
  • That land beyond the baseline (and therefore is out ).
  • :
  • (label) Occurring or coming after an extended interval; distant in time; far away.
  • *(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • *:That we may us reserve both fresh and strong / Against the tournament, which is not long .
  • Usage notes
    * Wide'' is usually used instead of ''long when referring to a horizontal dimension (left to right). * Tall'' or ''high'' are usually used instead of ''long'' when referring to positive vertical dimension (upwards), and ''deep when referring to negative vertical dimension (downwards).
    Synonyms
    * (having much distance from one point to another) deep (vertically downwards), extended, high (vertically upwards), lengthy, tall * (having great duration) extended, lengthy, prolonged
    Antonyms
    * (having much distance from one point to another) low (vertically upwards), shallow (vertically upwards or downwards), short * (having great duration) brief, short * (finance) short
    Derived terms
    * * as the day is long * daylong, dayslong * long arm of the law * long game * long gun * longhand * long-haul * long paddock * long pig * long row to hoe * long shot * long vehicle * long-waisted * long white radish * the long and short * yearlong, yearslong

    Adverb

    (er)
  • Over a great distance in space.
  • For a particular duration.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
  • , title= Wild Plants to the Rescue , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
  • For a long duration.
  • * 1594 , (William Shakespeare), i 3
  • I stay too long : but here my father comes.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title= “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=Ep./4/2
  • , passage=The world was awake to the 2nd of May, but Mayfair is not the world, and even the menials of Mayfair lie long abed.}}
  • *
  • Synonyms
    * (over a great distance) a long way, far * (for a long duration) a long time
    Antonyms
    * (over a great distance) a short distance, a short way * (for a long duration) an instant, a minute, a moment, a second, a short time, not long
    See also
    * far * wide * broad

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (linguistics) A long vowel.
  • (programming) A long integer variable, twice the size of an int or a short and half of a long long.
  • A long is typically 64 bits in a 32-bit environment.
  • (finance) An entity with a long position in an asset.
  • Every uptick made the longs cheer.
  • (music) A note formerly used in music, one half the length of a large, twice that of a breve.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (finance) To take a long position in.
  • *
  • See also
    * broad * wide

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) longen, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To await, to aspire, to desire greatly (something to occur or to be true)
  • She longed for him to come back.
  • * 1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)
  • The Rabbit sighed. He thought it would be a long time before this magic called Real happened to him. He longed to become Real, to know what it felt like; and yet the idea of growing shabby and losing his eyes and whiskers was rather sad.
    Usage notes
    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See
    Synonyms
    * (desire greatly) ache, yearn
    Derived terms
    * longing

    Etymology 3

    Aphetic form of (etyl) gelang; the verb later reinterpreted as an aphetic form of belong.

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (archaic) On account of, because of.
  • * 1603 , (John Florio), translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays , II.8:
  • I am of opinion that in regard of these debauches and lewd actions, fathers may, in some sort, be blamed, and that it is only long of them.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (archaic) To be appropriate to, to pertain or belong to.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.3:
  • A goodly Armour, and full rich aray, / Which long'd to Angela, the Saxon Queene, / All fretted round with gold, and goodly wel beseene.
  • * about 1591 , (William Shakespeare), The Taming of the Shrew , IV, 4:
  • Tis well, and hold your owne in any case / With such austeritie as longeth to a father.

    slow

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Taking a long time to move or go a short distance, or to perform an action; not quick in motion; proceeding at a low speed.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations.}}
  • Not happening in a short time; spread over a comparatively long time.
  • * (John Milton)
  • These changes in the heavens, though slow , produced / Like change on sea and land, sidereal blast.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Charles T. Ambrose
  • , title= Alzheimer’s Disease , volume=101, issue=3, page=200, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.}}
  • Of reduced intellectual capacity; not quick to comprehend.
  • Not hasty; not precipitate; lacking in promptness; acting with deliberation.
  • * The Bible, Prov. xiv. 29
  • He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding.
  • (of a clock or the like) Behind]] in time; indicating a time [[early, earlier than the true time.
  • Lacking spirit; deficient in liveliness or briskness.
  • (of a period of time) Not busy; lacking activity.
  • Synonyms

    * See also * (taking a long time to move a short distance) deliberate; moderate * (not happening in a short time) gradual * (of reduced intellectual capacity) dull-witted * (acting with deliberation) dilatory, inactive, tardy, slothful, sluggish * (lacking spirit) boring, dull

    Antonyms

    * (taking a long time to move a short distance) fast, quick, rapid, swift * (of reduced intellectual capacity) prompt, quick * (acting with deliberation) hasty, precipitate, prompt * (lacking spirit) brisk, lively

    Derived terms

    * slow motion, slo-mo * slow-belly * slow burn * slowish * slowly * slow march * slowness * slowpoke

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make (something) run, move, etc. less quickly; to reduce the speed of.
  • To keep from going quickly; to hinder the progress of.
  • To become slow; to slacken in speed; to decelerate.
  • * '>citation
  • After about a minute, the creek bed vomited the debris into a gently sloped meadow. Saugstad felt the snow slow and tried to keep her hands in front of her.

    Synonyms

    * (keep from going quickly) delay, hinder, retard * (become slow) decelerate, slacken

    Derived terms

    * slower * slow up * slow down

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Someone who is slow; a sluggard.
  • (music) A slow song.
  • Adverb

    (er)
  • Slowly.
  • That clock is running slow .
  • * Shakespeare
  • Let him have time to mark how slow time goes / In time of sorrow.