length

Universal Words noun size / measurement 1 [U,C] the size or measurement of sth from one end to the other: This room is twice the length of the kitchen. * The river is 300 miles in length. * The snake usually reaches a length of 100 cm. * He ran the entire length of the beach (= from one end to the other). * Did you see the length of his hair? compareBREADTH, WIDTH time 2 [U,C] the amount of time that sth lasts: We discussed shortening the length of the course. * He was disgusted at the length of time he had to wait. * She got a headache if she had to read for any length of time (= for a long time). * Size of pension depends partly on length of service with the company. * Each class is 45 minutes in length. of book / movie 3 [U,C] the amount of writing in a book, or a document, etc.; the amount of time that a film/movie lasts: Her novels vary in length. -length 4 (in adjectives) having the length mentioned: shoulder-length hair seealsoFULL-LENGTH, KNEE-LENGTH of swimming pool 5 [C] the distance from one end of a swimming pool to the other: He swims 50 lengths a day. compareWIDTH in race 6 [C] the size of a horse or boat from one end to the other, when it is used to measure the distance between two competitors in a race: The horse won by two clear lengths. long thin piece 7 [C] a long thin piece of sth: a length of rope / string / wire * timber sold in lengths of 2, 5 or 10 metres seealsoLONGadj. IDIOMS at length