At length

At length
At At, prep. [AS. [ae]t; akin to OHG. az, Goth., OS., & Icel. at, Sw. [*a]t, Dan. & L. ad.] Primarily, this word expresses the relations of presence, nearness in place or time, or direction toward; as, at the ninth hour; at the house; to aim at a mark. It is less definite than in or on; at the house may be in or near the house. From this original import are derived all the various uses of at. It expresses: [1913 Webster]

1. A relation of proximity to, or of presence in or on, something; as, at the door; at your shop; at home; at school; at hand; at sea and on land. [1913 Webster]

2. The relation of some state or condition; as, at war; at peace; at ease; at your service; at fault; at liberty; at risk; at disadvantage. [1913 Webster]

3. The relation of some employment or action; occupied with; as, at engraving; at husbandry; at play; at work; at meat (eating); except at puns. [1913 Webster]

4. The relation of a point or position in a series, or of degree, rate, or value; as, with the thermometer at 80[deg]; goods sold at a cheap price; a country estimated at 10,000 square miles; life is short at the longest. [1913 Webster]

5. The relations of time, age, or order; as, at ten o'clock; at twenty-one; at once; at first. [1913 Webster]

6. The relations of source, occasion, reason, consequence, or effect; as, at the sight; at this news; merry at anything; at this declaration; at his command; to demand, require, receive, deserve, endure at your hands. [1913 Webster]

7. Relation of direction toward an object or end; as, look at it; to point at one; to aim at a mark; to throw, strike, shoot, wink, mock, laugh at any one. [1913 Webster]

{At all}, {At home}, {At large}, {At last}, {At length}, {At once}, etc. See under {All}, {Home}, {Large}, {Last} (phrase and syn.), {Length}, {Once}, etc.

{At it}, busily or actively engaged.

{At least}. See {Least} and {However}.

{At one}. See {At one}, in the Vocabulary. [1913 Webster]

Syn: {In}, {At}.

Usage: When reference to the interior of any place is made prominent in is used. It is used before the names of countries and cities (esp. large cities); as, we live in America, in New York, in the South. At is commonly employed before names of houses, institutions, villages, and small places; as, Milton was educated at Christ's College; money taken in at the Customhouse; I saw him at the jeweler's; we live at Beachville. At may be used before the name of a city when it is regarded as a mere point of locality. ``An English king was crowned at Paris.'' --Macaulay. ``Jean Jacques Rousseau was born at Geneva, June, 28, 1712.'' --J. Morley. In regard to time, we say at the hour, on the day, in the year; as, at 9 o'clock, on the morning of July 5th, in the year 1775. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат
Synonyms:

Look at other dictionaries:

  • length — W2S2 [leŋθ] n ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(size)¦ 2¦(time)¦ 3¦(books/films etc)¦ 4 run/stretch/walk etc the (full) length of something 5 shoulder length/knee length etc 6 go to some/great/any lengths (to do something) 7 at (some/great etc) length 8 the length and… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • length — [ leŋθ ] noun *** 1. ) count or uncount a measurement of how long something is in size: Cut the cloth to the required length. This beautiful bird is small, with a total length of about three inches. The length of your swimming pool is not… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • Length — is the long dimension of any object. The length of a thing is the distance between its ends, its linear extent as measured from end to end. This may be distinguished from height, which is vertical extent, and width or breadth, which are the… …   Wikipedia

  • Length contraction — Length contraction, according to Hendrik Lorentz, is the physical phenomenon of a decrease in length detected by an observer in objects that travel at any non zero velocity relative to that observer. This contraction (more formally called Lorentz …   Wikipedia

  • Length — (l[e^]ngth), n. [OE. lengthe, AS. leng[eth], fr. lang, long, long; akin to D. lengte, Dan. l[ae]ngde, Sw. l[ a]ngd, Icel. lengd. See {Long}, a. ] 1. The longest, or longer, dimension of any object, in distinction from {breadth} or {width}; extent …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Length (disambiguation) — Length in its basic meaning is the long dimension of an object.Length may also refer to: *Length (phonetics), in phonetics **Vowel length **Geminate consonant *Arc length *Length of a module, in abstract algebra *Length of a polynomial *Vector… …   Wikipedia

  • length — [leŋkth, leŋth] n. [ME < OE lengthu < base of lang, LONG1 + TH1] 1. the measure of how long a thing is; measurement of anything from end to end; the greatest of the two or three dimensions of anything 2. extent in space; distance anything… …   English World dictionary

  • length — length; length·en; length·en·er; length·ful; length·i·ly; length·i·ness; length·ways; …   English syllables

  • length´i|ness — length|y «LEHNGK thee, LEHNG », adjective, length|i|er, length|i|est. 1. a) having unusually great length; long. b) (of speeches, a speaker, a writer, or the like) too long; long winded; tedious: »His directions were so le …   Useful english dictionary

  • length´i|ly — length|y «LEHNGK thee, LEHNG », adjective, length|i|er, length|i|est. 1. a) having unusually great length; long. b) (of speeches, a speaker, a writer, or the like) too long; long winded; tedious: »His directions were so le …   Useful english dictionary

  • length|y — «LEHNGK thee, LEHNG », adjective, length|i|er, length|i|est. 1. a) having unusually great length; long. b) (of speeches, a speaker, a writer, or the like) too long; long winded; tedious: »His directions were so le …   Useful english dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”