Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LENGTH, n. [Sax. lengthe, from leng, long; D. lengte.]

1. The extent of any thing material from end to end; the longest line which can be drawn through a body, parallel to its sides; as, the length of a church or of a ship; the length of a rope or line.
2. Extent; extension. Stretch'd at his length, he spurns the swarthy ground. Dryden.
3. A certain extent; a portion of space; with a plural. Large lengths of seas and shores. Shak.
4. Space of time; duration, indefinitely; as, a great length of time. What length of time will this enterprise require for its accomplishment?
5. Long duration. May heaven, great monarch, still augment your bliss, With length of days, and every day like this. Dryden.
6. Reach or extent; as, to pursue a subject to a great length.
7. Extent; as, the length of a discourse, essay, or argument.
8. Distance. He had marched to the length of Exeter. [Unusual and inelegant.] Clarendosn. At length,
9. At or in the full extent. Let the name be inserted at length.
10. At last; at the end or conclusion. Dryden.

LENGTH, v.t.

To extend. [Not used.]

LENGTH'EN, v.i.

To grow longer; to extend in length. A hempen rope contracts when wet, and lengthens when dry.

LENGTH'EN, v.t. [length'n.]

1. To extend in length; to make longer; to elongate; as, to lengthen a line.
2. To draw out or extend in time; to protract; to continue in duration; as, to lengthen life. The days lengthen from December to June.
3. To extend; as, to lengthen a discourse or a dissertation.
4. To draw out in pronunciation; as, to lengthen a sound or a syllable. This verb is often followed by out, which may be sometimes emphatical, but in general is useless. What if I please to lengthen out his date? Dryden.

LENGTH'EN-ED, pp.

Made longer; drawn out in length; continued in duration.

LENGTH'EN-ING, n.

Continuation; protraction. Dan. iv.

LENGTH'EN-ING, ppr.

Making longer; extending in length or in duration.

LENGTH'FUL, a.

Of great length in measure. Pope.

LENGTH'I-LY, adv.

In a lengthy manner; at great length or extent. Jefferson.

LENGTH'I-NESS, n.

Length; the state of being lengthy. Knickerbocker, March, 1833.

LENGTH'WISE, adv.

In the direction of the length; in a longitudinal direction.

LENGTH'Y, a.

Being long or moderately long; not short; not brief; applied mostly to moral subjects, as to discourses, writings, arguments, proceedings, &c.; as, a lengthy sermon; a lengthy dissertation; a lengthy detail. Lengthy periods. Washington's Letter to Plater. No ministerial act in France, in matters of judicial cognizance is done without a proces verbal, in which the facts are stated amidst a great deal of lengthy formality, with a degree of minuteness, highly profitable to the verbalizing officers and to the revenue. Am Review, Ap. Oct. 1811. P S Murray has sent or will send a double copy of the Bride and Giaour; in the last one some lengthy additions; pray accept them according to old customs. Lord Byron's Letter to Dr. Clarke, Dec. 13, 1813. Chalmers' Political Annals, in treating of South Carolina – is by no means as lengthy as Mr. Hewitt's History. Drayton's View ef South Carolina. These would be details too lengthy. Jefferson.

LE'NI-EN-CY, n.

Lenity.

LE'NI-ENT, a. [L. leniens, from lenio,lenis, soft, mild; Ar. {foreign} laina, to be soft, or smooth- Class Ln, No. 4. The primary sense probably is smooth, or to make smooth, and blandus may be of the same family.]

1. Softening; mitigating; assuasive. Time, that an all things lays his lenient hand, Yet tames not this. Pope Sometimes with of; as, lenient of grief. Milton
2. Relaxing; emollient. Oils relax the fibers, are lenient, balsamic. Arbuthnot

LE'NI-ENT, n.

That which softens or assuages; an emolient. Wiseman

LE'NI-ENT-LY, adv.

Mitigatingly; assuagingly.

LEN'I-FY, v.t.

To assuage; to soften; to mitigate. [Little used.] Bacon. Dryden

LEN'I-MENT, n.

An assuasive. [Not used.]

LEN'I-TIVE, a. [It. lenitivo; Fr. lenitif; from L. lenio, to soften.]

Having the quality of softening or mitigating, as pain or acrimony; assuasive; emollient. Bacan. Arbuthnot.

LEN'I-TIVE, n.

1. A medicine or application that has the quality of easing pain; that which softens or mitigates.
2. A palliative; that which abates passion. South

LEN'I-TY, n. [L. lenitas, from lenis, mild, soft.]

Mildness of temper; softness; tenderness; mercy. Your offenders may be treated with lenity. It is opposed to severity and rigor.

LEN'NOCK, a.

Slender; pliable. [Local]

LE-NO'CI-NANT, a. [L. knocinans.]

Given to lewdness. Mon

LENS, n. [plur. Lenses. L. lens, a lentil.]

A transparent substance, usually glass, so formed that ray of light passing through it are made to change their direction, and to magnify or diminish objects at a certain distance. Lenses are double-convex, or convex on both sides; double-concave, or concave on both sides; plano-convex or plano-concave, that is, with one side plane, and the other convex or concave; or convex on one side and concave on the other; the latter is called a meniscus. Encyc.

LENT, n. [Sax. lencten, spring, lent, from leng, long; lenegan, to lengthen; so called from the lengthening of the days.]

The quadragesimal fast, or fast of forty days, observed by the Christian church before Easter, the festival of our Savior's resurrection. It begins at Ash-Wednesday, and continues till Easter. Lent or lentando, in music, direct to a gradual retarding time.