ell
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Translingual
Symbol
ell
- (international standards) ISO 639-2/T & ISO 639-3 language code for Greek.
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɛl/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -ɛl
Etymology 1
From Middle English elle, elne, from Old English eln (“the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger; a unit of measure”), from Proto-West Germanic *alinu, from Proto-Germanic *alinō, from Proto-Indo-European *Heh₃l-én-eh₂, from *Heh₃l- (“elbow, forearm”).
Cognate with Dutch el (“ell”), German Low German Ell (“ell”), German Elle (“ell”), Swedish aln (“cubit; ell”), Icelandic alin (“cubit; ell”), Latin ulna (“forearm”).
Noun
ell (plural ells)
- (historical) A measure of length. An English ell was 1¼ yards (45 inches or 114 cm), a Scottish ell was about 37 inches (94 cm), a Flemish ell was ¾ yard (27 inches or 69 cm), while certain European ells were less than 50 cm.
- 1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 51:
- At certain times in the ice-mountains of Switzerland there happen cracks which have shewn the great thickness of the ice, as some of these cracks have measured three or four hundred ells deep.
- 1841, Charles Dickens, chapter XXX, in Barnaby Rudge:
- A homely proverb recognises the existence of a troublesome class of persons who, having an inch conceded them, will take an ell.
- 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 19:
- Berkhyas is described as being a mountain in size, his face black, his body covered with hair, his neck like that of a dragon, two boar's tusks from his mouth, his eyes wells of blood, his hair bristling like needles, his height 140 ells, his breadth 17, pigeons nestling in his snaky locks.
- 1910, Henry James, The Finer Grain:
- If he had imputed to them conditions it was all his own doing: it came from his inveterate habit of abysmal imputation, the snatching of the ell wherever the inch peeped out, without which where would have been the tolerability of life?
Derived terms
Translations
measure of cloth
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Etymology 2
From the name of the letter L.
Noun
ell (plural ells)
- The name of the Latin-script letter L/l. (more commonly el)
- 2004, Will Rogers, The Stonking Steps, page 170:
- I have drunk en-ee-cee-tee-ay-ar from the ef-ell-oh-doubleyou-ee-ar-ess in his gee-ay-ar-dee-ee-en many a time.
- An extension usually at right angles to one end of a building.
- 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, chapter 4, in The Whisperer in Darkness:
- I could hear them snapping and tearing around, and then one managed to get on the roof by jumping from the low ell.
- Something that is L-shaped.
Alternative forms
Derived terms
Translations
something L-shaped
Anagrams
Asturian
Article
ell m sg (feminine lla, neuter llo, masculine plural llos, feminine plural lles)
Catalan
Estonian
Faroese
Hungarian
Icelandic
Võro
Welsh
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