Other forms: furlongs
A furlong is an eighth of a mile, used in racing. A five-furlong sprint, two furlongs out, win by three furlongs.
Horse racing in Britain and Ireland still measures every distance in them, so a race is described as one mile and two furlongs. The word means furrow long, from the length of a furrow ploughed in a medieval field before the team turned.
1nounfurlongAn eighth of a mile, used in racing.
“The horse took the lead in the final furlong and won by a nose.”
furlong is a measure.
Old English furlang, furh, a furrow, plus lang, long — the length of a furrow in a common field.
Proto-Indo-European
*perḱ- — to dig; to open; to rip up
Old English
furlang
Middle English
furlong
English, today
furlong
Built from
From Middle English furlong, forlong (“unit of distance about one-eighth of a mile; quantity of land equal to one square furlong; racetrack for foot races; foot race”)ferlong, forelang, forelange, forelong, forelonge, forlang, forlange, forlonge, fourlonge, furelang, furelange, furelonge, furlang, furlange, furleng, furlonge, furlung, furowlong, (rare) furʒlong, from Old English furlang, furlung, from furh (“a furrow”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European perḱ- (“to dig; to open; to rip up”) + lang (“long”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European dlongʰos (“long”)), originally the typical length of a furrow in an average field.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA