long
v.v. to want something very much, especially when it seems far away or hard to get. You often long for something you miss from the past, or for something to happen soon.
v. to have a strong, persistent desire or craving for something or someone. It often implies a sense of yearning, especially for something absent or in the past.
She longs to see her family again.
After a long winter, many people long for the warmth and sunshine of spring.
He found himself longing for the uncomplicated certainties of his youth, a time before his career had presented him with such difficult moral choices.
From Middle English long, lang, from Old English long, lang (“long, tall, lasting”), from Proto-West Germanic lang, from Proto-Germanic langaz (“long”), from Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos (“long”). Cognates Cognate with Scots lang (“long”), Yola lhaung, long (“long”), North Frisian long, lung, lüng (“long”), Saterland Frisian loang (“long”), West Frisian lang (“long”), Cimbrian lång (“long”), Dutch, German, and Low German lang (“long”), Luxembourgish laang (“long”), Mòcheno lònk (“long”), Vilamovian łaong (“long”), Yiddish לאַנג (lang, “long”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk lang (“long”), Faroese and Icelandic langur (“long”), Swedish lång (“long”), Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌲𐍃 (laggs, “long”); also Latin longus (“long”) (whence French long (“long”), Italian lungo (“long”), Portuguese longo (“long”), Spanish luengo (“long”)), Ancient Greek δολιχός (dolikhós, “long; wearisome”), Albanian gjatë (“long; tall”), Latvian ilgs (“long”), Lithuanian ilgas (“long”), Belarusian до́ўгі (dówhi, “long”), Bulgarian дъ́лъг (dǎ́lǎg, “long”), Czech dlúhý (“long”), Macedonian долг (dolg, “long”), Polish długi (“long”), Russian дли́нный (dlínnyj, “lengthy, long”), до́лгий (dólgij, “long”), Serbo-Croatian ду̏г, dȕg (“long”), Slovak dlhý (“long”), Slovene dolg (“long”), Ukrainian до́вгий (dóvhyj, “long”), Ossetian даргъ (darǧ, “late”), Central Kurdish دێر (dêr), درەنگ (dreng, “late”), Northern Kurdish dereng (“late”), Persian دیر (dēr / dir, “late; long”), درنگ (derang, “delay”), Sanskrit दीर्घ (dīrgha, “long”) (whence Bengali দীর্ঘ (dirgho, “long; tall”), Dhivehi ދިގު (digu, “long, lengthy”), Kalasha driga, dríga (“long; tall”), Kholosi taɽgo (“long”), Khowar درونگ (drung, “long”), Hindi दीर्घ (dīrgh, “long; tall; weighty”), Nepali दिघो (digho, “stable”), Odia ଦୀର୍ଘ (dirgha, “long”), Sinhalese දිග (diga, “long”), Urdu دیرگھ (dīrgh, “long; tall; weighty”)), Kamkata-viri drëgeř, drëgëř, drëŋëň, dërëgeň (“long; tall”), Prasuni jigni (“long; tall”). The word shows the regular historical change of a to o before certain consonant clusters such as ng (compare with other examples in Middle and Modern English such as bond, song, throng, and wrong). The o-form may have also been reinforced by Old French long, from Latin longus, from the same Indo-European word. Doublet of lungo and lunge.
From Middle English longe, lange, from Old English longe, lange, from the adjective (see above).
From Middle English longen, from Old English langian (“to long for, yearn after, grieve for, be pained, lengthen, grow longer, summon, belong”), from Proto-West Germanic langōn, from Proto-Germanic langōną (“to desire, long for”), from Proto-Indo-European *lengʷʰ- (“to be easy, be quick, jump, move around, vary”). Cognate with German langen (“to reach, be sufficient”), Swedish langa (“to push, pass by hand”), Icelandic langa (“to want, desire”), Dutch, German verlangen (“to desire, want, long for”).
From Middle English long, lang, an aphetic form of Middle English ilong, ylong, from Old English ġelong, ġelang (“along, belonging, depending, consequent”); the verb later reinterpreted as an aphetic form of belong.
Shortening of longitude.
From Middle English longen, from Old English langian (“to belong, pertain”), from Old English *lang, which is of uncertain origin yet related to Old English ġelang (“dependent, attainable, present, belonging, consequent”), Old Saxon gilang (“ready, available”).
The verb is intransitive and almost always followed by the preposition 'for' or a 'to'-infinitive (e.g., 'long for something' or 'long to do something').
I long a vacation.I long for a vacation.The verb 'long' is intransitive and requires a preposition, usually 'for', before its object.