Obs. Forms: 5 eslonge, 5–7 elonge, 6–7 elong. [ad. late L. ēlongā-re to remove to a distance, f. ē out + longē far away.
Sense 1 of this word, and the ordinary modern sense of ELONGATE, show that the L. word was sometimes taken as f. ē + long-us long. The form eslonge is due to the influence of the equivalent Romanic form: see ELOIN.]
1. trans. To make longer, lengthen.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., II. 79. Elonge eke as the liketh best thi lande.
b. To retard, delay; to retard the growth of.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., IV. 632. Premature yf that the list elonge [maturam ficum vis serotinam facere].
1610. G. Fletcher, Christ’s Vict., in Farr’s S. P. Jas. I., 57. Upon the roof the bird of sorrow sat, Elonging joyfull day with her sad note.
2. To remove, separate, cause to wander away from. lit. and fig. Also fig. To set free (from trouble or grief).
1475. Caxton, Jason, 135 b. I haue found and felte my self eslonged … of all my sorowes.
a. 1541. Wyatt, Wks. (1861), 55. By seas, and hills elonged from thy sight.
1603. Florio, Montaigne, III. ix. (1632), 539. Doth not too much elonge and draw us from our beginnings and grounded principles.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., 108. Ane beast that is elonged, and wavered away from his maister.
3. intr. To go far away. rare–0.
1598. Florio, Allontanare, to elonge, to go farre off.
