How do you use the word "ell" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "ell": Have you seen the ell on that house?

Ell Meaning

/ˈɛl/

Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA 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.

nounThe name of the Latin script letter L/l. (more commonly el)

Sentence Examples

Have you seen the ell on that house?

CEFR Practice Quiz

The tailor measured an ____ of cloth for the customer's new coat.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

Have you seen the ____ on that house?

Word Origin & History

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”).

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"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:

"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." — 2004, Will Rogers, The Stonking Steps, page 170:

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