prep., adv. and a. Forms: 3 andelong, 3–4 endelong, (4 endelyng), 4– endlong, 4– north. dial. endlang. [The early southern ME. endelong, f. ende END sb. + LONG, seems to have been substituted by popular etymology for the preposition andlang (see ALONG prep.), the first element of this having ceased to be intelligible, while the new compound yielded an identical sense (cf. on end, end on, ENDAWAY). In purely southern English endelong did not long survive, its place being taken by ALONG, the reduced form of the earlier andlang. But from 14th c. onwards endlang, endlong appear (as prep. and adv.) in northern and midland dialects, where they may be f. ON. endelangr, endlangr adj. (f. ende-r END + langr LONG), synonymous with OE. andlang adj. ‘the whole length of.’ In our quots. the adjectival use of endlong first occurs in a passage of Caxton’s ed. of Trevisa’s Higden, where it is substituted for evelong (= AVELONGE, oblong), used by Trevisa himself. Subsequently (in 17th c.) the adv. assumed the sense ‘on end,’ ‘end foremost or downwards,’ in accordance with the analogy of words like headlong, sidelong, where -long is a perversion of the OE. suffix -lunga. This use still occasionally appears in standard Eng.; the other uses are now peculiar to Sc. and northern dialects, except as deliberate archaisms.
Prof. Sievers (Festgaben für Böhtlingk 1888) considers that the second element in OE. andlang is not identical with LONG a., but is directly from the OTeut. vb. *ling-an, lang, lung-ano- to reach, extend. The ON. endlangr, Eng. endlong, he regards as altered from andlangr, OE. andlang by popular etymology.]
A. prep. From end to end of; through or over the length of (as opposed to across), following the line of, onwards by the side of; along. Chiefly of place, rarely of time.
a. 1225. Juliana, 30. Ant healden on hire heauet þat hit urne endelong hire leofliche bodi.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 10. Ant droh þa endelong hire ant þwertouer þrefter þe derewurðe taken.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, III. 414. Endlang the louchhis syd … besyly thai socht.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sqr’s T., 408. The rede blood Ran endelong [v.r. endelyng] the tree.
c. 1450. Cookery Bk., 97. Bynde the threde with the frute A-bought a rownde spete, endelonge þe spete.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, X. lxiv. Sir Helyus … drofe sir Palomydes ouerthwart and endlonge alle the feld.
1508. Dunbar, Gold. Targe, xv. Ladyes to dance full sobirly assayit … Endlang the lusty rywir.
a. 1547. Earl Surrey, Aeneid, IV. 328. Like to the foule, that endlong costes and strondes … flies sweping by the sea.
1600. Holland, Livy, XXXVI. 921 (R.). The singular discipline & order of that nation in old time, was going downeward and endlong many yeeres and ages alreadie.
a. 1758. Ramsay, Poet. Wks. (1844), 86. Lay them [thir tangs] en’lang his pow or shin.
B. adv.
† 1. Extended at full length; at one’s whole length; horizontally. Obs. exc. north. dial.
1393. Gower, Conf., II. 233. And everything in his degre endelong upon a bourde he laide.
c. 1430. Lydg., Bochas, VII. ix. (1554), 175 a. Beaten he was … Whipped, scourged, endlong and vpright.
1864. Atkinson, Whitby Gloss., I tummell’d end lang.
2. From end to end, lengthwise, longitudinally, as distinguished from crosswise or athwart. arch. exc. north. dial.
c. 1300. Havelok, 2822. Him to binden faste Vpon an asse … Andelong, nouht ouerthwert.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1133. Dores … I-clenched overthward and endelong With iren tough.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, X. lxxxvi. (1816), 153. Thurghoute alle this reame, endlonge and ouerthwart.
1574. Hyll, Planting, 78. Of eyther [vine] pare away halfe endlong upon the pith.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., III. II. vi. (ed. 7), 382. Foure barley kernels couched close together side by side, and not endlong, are said to make a finger breadth.
1825. Scott, Talism., vii. Galloping in full career … about and around, crossways and endlong.
1886. R. F. Burton, Arab. Nts. (abr. ed.), I. 162. The street had been pulled down endlong.
† 3. Of motion in a longitudinal direction: Right along, straight on, straight through. Obs. exc. north. dial.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XVI. 548. Endlang furth held thai thar vay.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, X. lxviii. These four knyghtes came into the feld endlonge and thurgh.
1517. Torkington, Pilgr. (1884), 47. An howge … Serpent … ranne endlong vpon the ryght Syde of the Chirche wall.
1700. Dryden, Pal. & Arc., III. 691. Spurring at full speed, ran endlong on.
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm., ix. (1857), 186. He was driven endlong against the wall of the kiln.
b. Of speech: Continuously.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xi. He never could preach five words of a sermon endlang.
4. On end, perpendicularly, vertically.
1600. Holland, Livy, III. xxviii. 107. They … set two of them [speares] pitched in the ground endlong, and the third overthwart.
1656. Heylin, Surv. France, 148. They stood not up endlong but lay one upon the other.
1725. Pope, Odyss., X. 667. Full endlong from the roof the sleeper fell, And snap’d the spinal joint.
C. adj.
† 1. Extended lengthwise, oblong. Obs.
1480. Caxton, Trevisa’s Higden (Rolls), II. 55. Britayne is endlong [1387 Trevisa eve longe] and larger in the myddel than in thendes.
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Chirurg. Of what shape is the stomacke?… It is rounde endlong.
2. (Adjectival use of B. 4; cf. headlong adj.) Set on end, perpendicular. rare.
1716. M. Davies, Athen. Brit., II. 203. His Grace’s Wife being in that end-long Posture [viz., head downwards in a chest] was in Jeopardy to break her Neck.
1840. Browning, Sordello, III. 347. Giant rushes … grew Like demons’ endlong tresses.
