ell – English noun declension

English noun forms of ell

Noun: ell
Singularell
Pluralells

Sample Sentences

  • 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. [1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 51:]
  • A homely proverb recognises the existence of a troublesome class of persons who, having an inch conceded them, will take an ell. [1841, Charles Dickens, chapter XXX, in Barnaby Rudge:]
  • Berkhyas is described as being a mountain in size, his face black, his body covered with hair, his neck like that of a dragon, two boar's tusks from his mouth, his eyes wells of blood, his hair bristling like needles, his height 140 ells, his breadth 17, pigeons nestling in his snaky locks. [1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 19:]
  • If he had imputed to them conditions it was all his own doing: it came from his inveterate habit of abysmal imputation, the snatching of the ell wherever the inch peeped out, without which where would have been the tolerability of life? [1910, Henry James, The Finer Grain:]
  • ‘Taffety brocade at ten shillings an ell at Simon Snippets, the woman’s tailor, now quite ruined. I shall go distracted.’ [1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 56:]

Etymology

1. 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”).
2. Cognate with Dutch el (“ell”), German Low German Ell (“ell”), German Elle (“ell”), Swedish aln (“cubit; ell”), Icelandic alin (“cubit; ell”), Latin ulna (“forearm”). See: Middle English Nouns 'elle', Old English Nouns 'eln', Dutch Nouns 'el', German Nouns 'Elle', Swedish Nouns 'aln', Icelandic Nouns 'alin', Latin Nouns 'ulna'.

Verbs referencing "ell"

Dutch Nouns el, German Nouns Elle, Old Norse Nouns alin, Danish Nouns alen, Gothic Nouns 𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰.