long s

or long ess

[ es ]

noun
  1. a style of the letter s, suggesting a lowercase f in form, formerly common in handwriting and as a type character.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use long s in a sentence

  • He's to foreclose that mortgage and longs to own that one field of ours just to complete the shape of his farm.

    Dorothy at Skyrie | Evelyn Raymond
  • She was thrown from Short and Longs bobsled one night and had to be helped home.

  • Gradually the desire for the romantic increases until the novel-reader longs to have a romance of her own.

  • One rather shrinks from that kind of thing when one is not used to it, and longs to do something to disturb it.

    The Gold Trail | Harold Bindloss
  • The Adagio is very fine in its way, but such is its cloying sweetness that one longs for something bracing and active.

British Dictionary definitions for longs (1 of 2)

longs

/ (lɒŋz) /


pl n
  1. full-length trousers

  2. long-dated gilt-edged securities

  1. finance unsold securities or commodities held in anticipation of rising prices

British Dictionary definitions for long s (2 of 2)

long s

noun
  1. a lower-case s, printed ʃ, formerly used in handwriting and printing: Also called: long ess

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012