a. and adv. Obs. Also evelong. [f. EVEN- + LONG a.
The etymological notion is obscure; perh. the adv. originated first, and the adj. use was developed from the sense ‘straight along,’ with the help of some confusion with AVELONG. In OE. efelang occurs once (‘þæt cuðe hol … þæt he efelang ær ʓefylde’ Riddles xlv. 7), with the sense ‘of the same length,’ or perh. ‘lengthwise.’]
A. adj. Oblong.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 405. Butter, melk and chese I-schape euelong and cornered wise [oblongus et tetragonus]. Ibid. (1398), Barth. De P. R., III. xvii. (Tollem. MS.). An euen longe tre meuid swyftly semeþ rounde. Ibid., V. ix. (1495), 115. Euenlonge browes wyth lytyll heer sygnefyeth cowardnesse.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 53. Take þe Stuffe of þe Porke, & putte it on euelong cofyn of fayre past.
1565. Golding, Ovid’s Met., VIII. (1593), 199. This brooke is woont … evelong stones [L. obliqua saxa] to carrie With hideous roring downe his streame.
B. adv. a. Straight along, in a line. b. In an oblong form.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xxxvi. (1495), 148. The herte is euenlonge shapen as a toppe.
14[?]. Porkington MS., in Wright, Dict., s.v., One the upper syde make holys evenelonge, as many as thou wylt.
