Long describes something that measures a great distance from one end to the other, or something that takes a lot of time. As a verb, “to long for” means to strongly wish or yearn for something.
It comes from Old English “lang” or “long,” meaning “having great length” or “lasting a long time.” The emotional verb sense of “longing” developed from the idea of time stretching out.
The same word that measures distance also measures time, because our brains picture time as a kind of invisible road. When you “long” for something, it feels far away in that mental space, even if it’s sitting right in front of you.
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