the.com/furlong
the length one ox could plow before it needed a breather.
means A unit of distance equal to 220 yards (one-eighth of a mile), now mostly surviving in horse racing.
from Pure Old English farm-talk: 'furh' (furrow) plus 'lang' (long) — literally 'the length of a furrow.' It marked how long a strip in a medieval open field ran before the plow turned around, standardized to the length of one furrow in a square ten-acre field. When the Romans' mile met the English furlong, the furlong won the right to define an eighth of it.
- literal meaning
- furrow-long, an Old English field measurement
- exact length
- 660 feet, or one-eighth of a mile
- horse racing
- still the official unit at racetracks worldwide
- acre link
- an acre is one furlong by one chain
- survives in mph
- furlongs per fortnight is a real joke unit
for instance
kentucky derby — horse race run over 1¼ miles (10 furlongs) at churchill downs since 1875
ascot gold cup — british horse race contested over 2½ miles (20 furlongs) at royal ascot