overlong

English

Alternative forms

• over-long

Etymology

From over- +‎ long.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

overlong

1. Too long.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

     O, hold me not with silence over-long!

   • 1697, William Dampier, chapter 13, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 351:

     As the Island Mindanao lies very convenient for Trade, so considering its distance, the way thither may not be over long and tiresome.

   • 1962 July, Marcus Newman, “By Car-Sleeper to Switzerland”, in Modern Railways, page 41:

     So far as this particular service is concerned, there is an overlong interval between the arrival of the car-ferry in Calais at 3.45 p.m. and the departure of the Lyss train from Calais Ville at 6.30 p.m.

   • 2004, Andrea Levy, chapter 26, in Small Island‎^[1], London: Review, page 275:

     The next minute the little boy, still in his overlong trousers, was being dragged out of the house by the warden who had him by the ear.

Derived terms

• overlong vowel

Translations

too long

• Maori: tōhira

Adverb

overlong (comparative more overlong, superlative most overlong)

1. Too long, for an excessively long time.
   • 1613, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, Essays‎^[2], London: Edward Blount and William Barret, Book 2, Chapter 29, pp. 396-397:

     […] she casteth the rest into the fire, and there withall sodainely flings herselfe into it: Which is no sooner done, but the people cast great store of Faggots and Billets vpon hir, lest she should languish over-long […]

   • 1935, Pearl S. Buck, A House Divided‎^[3], London: Methuen, Part 1, pp. 54-55:

     […] his wandering restless glance lingered over-long even on his girl cousin, so that his pretty sharp-voiced wife recalled him with a little sneer she slipped sidewise into something else she said.

   • 2002, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 20, in Youth‎^[4], London: Secker & Warburg, page 165:

     He does not need to think overlong to know what the right thing is.