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Thick vs Long - What's the difference?

thick | long |

As adjectives the difference between thick and long

is that thick is relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension while long is having much distance from one terminating point on an object or an area to another terminating point usually applies to horizontal dimensions; see Usage Notes below.

As adverbs the difference between thick and long

is that thick is in a thick manner while long is over a great distance in space.

As nouns the difference between thick and long

is that thick is the thickest, or most active or intense, part of something while long is a long vowel.

As verbs the difference between thick and long

is that thick is to thicken while long is to take a long position in.

As a proper noun Long is

{{surname|from=nicknames}} Originally a nickname for a tall man.

thick

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=17 citation , passage=The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […].}}
  • Measuring a certain number of units in this dimension.
  • Heavy in build; thickset.
  • * 2007 , James T. Knight, Queen of the Hustle
    • As she twirled around in front of the mirror admiring how the dress showed off her thick booty, she felt like a princess in a children's storybook.
  • Densely crowded or packed.
  • * , chapter=3
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.}}
  • Having a viscous consistency.
  • Abounding in number.
  • Impenetrable to sight.
  • Difficult to understand, or poorly articulated.
  • (informal) Stupid.
  • (informal) Friendly or intimate.
  • * T. Hughes
    • We have been thick ever since.
  • Deep, intense, or profound.
  • * Shakespeare
    • thick sleep

    Synonyms

    * (relatively great in extent from one surface to another) broad * (measuring a certain number of units in this dimension) * (heavy in build) chunky, solid, stocky, thickset * (densely crowded or packed) crowded, dense, packed * (having a viscous consistency) glutinous, viscous * (abounding in number) overflowing, swarming, teeming * (impenetrable to sight) dense, opaque, solid * (sense) unclear * dense, dumb (informal), stupid, thick as pigshit (taboo slang), thick as two short planks (slang) * (sense) chummy (qualifier), close, close-knit, friendly, pally (informal), intimate, tight-knit * great, extreme * See also

    Antonyms

    * (relatively great in extent from one surface to another) slim, thin * (heavy in build) slender, slight, slim, svelte, thin * (densely crowded or packed) sparse * (having a viscous consistency) free-flowing, runny * (abounding in number) * (impenetrable to sight) thin, transparent * (sense) clear, lucid * brainy (informal), intelligent, smart * (sense) unacquainted

    Derived terms

    * blood is thicker than water * thick and thin * thick as a brick * thick as a plank * thick as thieves * thick as two short planks * thicket * thickhead * thickish * thickly * thicko * thickness * thickset * thick-skinned * thick-un * thicky

    Adverb

    (er)
  • In a thick manner.
    • Snow lay thick on the ground.
  • Thickly.
    • Bread should be sliced thick to make toast.
  • Frequently; in great numbers.
    • The arrows flew thick and fast around us.

    Noun

    (-)
  • The thickest, or most active or intense, part of something.
    • It was mayhem in the thick of battle.
  • * Dryden
    • He through a little window cast his sight / Through thick of bars, that gave a scanty light.
  • A thicket.
  • * Drayton
    • gloomy thicks
  • * Spenser
    • Through the thick they heard one rudely rush.
  • A stupid person; a fool.
  • * 2014 , Joseph O'Connor, The Thrill of It All (page 100)
    • If there was doctorates in bollocksology and scratching yourself in bed, the two of you'd be professors by now. Pair of loafing, idle thicks .

    Derived terms

    * in the thick of * through thick and thin

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (archaic) To thicken.
    • The nightmare Life-in-death was she, / Who thicks man's blood with cold. — Coleridge.
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    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.

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