Ell
name, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A measure of length. An English ell was 1¼ yards (45 inches or 114 cm), a Scottish ell was about 37 inches (94 cm), a Flemish ell was ¾ yard (27 inches or 69 cm), while certain European ells were less than 50 cm. historical
"At certain times in the ice-mountains of Switzerland there happen cracks which have shewn the great thickness of the ice, as some of these cracks have measured three or four hundred ells deep."
- 2 The name of the Latin script letter L/l. (more commonly el)
"I have drunk en-ee-cee-tee-ay-ar from the ef-ell-oh-doubleyou-ee-ar-ess in his gee-ay-ar-dee-ee-en many a time."
- 3 Abbreviation of RNA polymerase II elongation factor: an enzyme found in Cajal bodies. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, uncountable
- 4 Alternative letter-case form of ell. alt-of
- 5 an extension at the end and at right angles to the main building wordnet
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- 6 An extension usually at right angles to one end of a building.
"I could hear them snapping and tearing around, and then one managed to get on the roof by jumping from the low ell."
- 7 Initialism of English-language learner. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 8 Something that is L-shaped.
- 1 A surname. countable, uncountable
- 2 A town and commune in Redange canton, Luxembourg. countable, uncountable
- 3 A village in Leudal municipality, Limburg province, Netherlands. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"Have you seen the ell on that house?"
Etymology
From Middle English elle, elne, from Old English eln (“the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger; a unit of measure”), from Proto-West Germanic *alinu, from Proto-Germanic *alinō, from Proto-Indo-European *Heh₃l-én-eh₂, from *Heh₃l- (“elbow, forearm”). Cognate with Dutch el (“ell”), German Low German Ell (“ell”), German Elle (“ell”), Swedish aln (“cubit; ell”), Icelandic alin (“cubit; ell”), Latin ulna (“forearm”).
From the name of the letter L.
Related phrases
More for "ell"
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.