See by a long chalk in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "A reference to the practice of writing the scores of games on boards using chalk.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "prepositional phrase",
"head": ""
},
"expansion": "by a long chalk",
"name": "head"
},
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "by a long chalk",
"name": "en-prep phrase"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "prep_phrase",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Australian English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "British English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1854, Thomas De Quincey, “System of the Heavens as Revealed by Lord Rosse’s Telescopes”, in Miscellanies: Chiefly Narrative (De Quincey’s Works; III), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, footnote *, page 171:",
"text": "[A]s regards the body of water discharged, the absolute payments made into the sea's exchequer, and the majesty of column riding downwards from the Himalaya, I believe that, since Sir Alexander Burnes's measurements, the Indus ranks foremost by a long chalk.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1891, George Gissing, “The Lonely Man”, in New Grub Street […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 82–83:",
"text": "Bowring was a man of few words; he said, \"Blaze away, my boy.\" And I tried to. But it was no use; I had got out of the style; my writing was too literary by a long chalk.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1906, Edith Van Dyne [pseudonym: Lyman Frank Baum], “The Other Niece”, in Aunt Jane’s Nieces, Chicago, Ill.: The Reilly & Britton Co., →OCLC, page 153:",
"text": "The world's a stage, they say; but the show ain't always amusing, by a long chalk, and sometimes I wish I didn't have a reserved seat.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Death in the Family”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC, part I, page 132:",
"text": "\"My boy, remember you're taking your life in your hands,\" said Mrs. Morel. \"Nothing is as bad as a marriage that's a hopeless failure. Mine was bad enough, God knows, and ought to teach you something; but it might have been worse by a long chalk.\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2021 October 25, Magdy Samaan, “Mohamed Salah added to school curriculum in Egypt”, in The Times, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-11-30:",
"text": "He [Mohamed Salah] is, by a long chalk, the world's favourite living Egyptian, and [has] been heralded as a role model in his adopted city of Liverpool.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To a great extent; by far."
],
"id": "en-by_a_long_chalk-en-prep_phrase-YEMB2APx",
"links": [
[
"great",
"great#Adjective"
],
[
"extent",
"extent#Noun"
],
[
"by far",
"by far"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(British, Australia, informal) To a great extent; by far."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "by chalks"
},
{
"tags": [
"obsolete"
],
"word": "by long chalks"
},
{
"word": "by far § Synonyms"
}
],
"tags": [
"Australia",
"British",
"informal"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˌbaɪ‿ə ˌlɒŋ ˈt͡ʃɔːk/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌbaɪ‿ə ˌlɔŋ ˈt͡ʃɔk/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "En-us-by a long chalk.oga",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c9/En-us-by_a_long_chalk.oga/En-us-by_a_long_chalk.oga.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/En-us-by_a_long_chalk.oga"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɔːk"
}
],
"word": "by a long chalk"
}
{
"etymology_text": "A reference to the practice of writing the scores of games on boards using chalk.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "prepositional phrase",
"head": ""
},
"expansion": "by a long chalk",
"name": "head"
},
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "by a long chalk",
"name": "en-prep phrase"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "prep_phrase",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"Australian English",
"British English",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English informal terms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English prepositional phrases",
"English terms with quotations",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Rhymes:English/ɔːk",
"Rhymes:English/ɔːk/4 syllables"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1854, Thomas De Quincey, “System of the Heavens as Revealed by Lord Rosse’s Telescopes”, in Miscellanies: Chiefly Narrative (De Quincey’s Works; III), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, footnote *, page 171:",
"text": "[A]s regards the body of water discharged, the absolute payments made into the sea's exchequer, and the majesty of column riding downwards from the Himalaya, I believe that, since Sir Alexander Burnes's measurements, the Indus ranks foremost by a long chalk.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1891, George Gissing, “The Lonely Man”, in New Grub Street […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 82–83:",
"text": "Bowring was a man of few words; he said, \"Blaze away, my boy.\" And I tried to. But it was no use; I had got out of the style; my writing was too literary by a long chalk.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1906, Edith Van Dyne [pseudonym: Lyman Frank Baum], “The Other Niece”, in Aunt Jane’s Nieces, Chicago, Ill.: The Reilly & Britton Co., →OCLC, page 153:",
"text": "The world's a stage, they say; but the show ain't always amusing, by a long chalk, and sometimes I wish I didn't have a reserved seat.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Death in the Family”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC, part I, page 132:",
"text": "\"My boy, remember you're taking your life in your hands,\" said Mrs. Morel. \"Nothing is as bad as a marriage that's a hopeless failure. Mine was bad enough, God knows, and ought to teach you something; but it might have been worse by a long chalk.\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2021 October 25, Magdy Samaan, “Mohamed Salah added to school curriculum in Egypt”, in The Times, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-11-30:",
"text": "He [Mohamed Salah] is, by a long chalk, the world's favourite living Egyptian, and [has] been heralded as a role model in his adopted city of Liverpool.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To a great extent; by far."
],
"links": [
[
"great",
"great#Adjective"
],
[
"extent",
"extent#Noun"
],
[
"by far",
"by far"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(British, Australia, informal) To a great extent; by far."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "by chalks"
}
],
"tags": [
"Australia",
"British",
"informal"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˌbaɪ‿ə ˌlɒŋ ˈt͡ʃɔːk/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌbaɪ‿ə ˌlɔŋ ˈt͡ʃɔk/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "En-us-by a long chalk.oga",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c9/En-us-by_a_long_chalk.oga/En-us-by_a_long_chalk.oga.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/En-us-by_a_long_chalk.oga"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɔːk"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"tags": [
"obsolete"
],
"word": "by long chalks"
},
{
"word": "by far § Synonyms"
}
],
"word": "by a long chalk"
}
Download raw JSONL data for by a long chalk meaning in English (3.5kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-08 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (9a96ef4 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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