ellinge

• elenge, ellenge

Inherited from Middle English elenge, elynge, from Old English ǣlenġe, from ǣ- (“without”) +‎ lenġe (“related, belonging”). Compare similar fossilised formations with ǣ-: empty and oakum.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛlɪnd͡ʒ/

ellinge (comparative more ellinge, superlative most ellinge)

1. (Kent, Surrey, Sussex, dialectal, obsolete) Isolated, lonely, dreary, unsettling.
   • [1674, John Ray, “[South and East Countrey Words.]”, in A Collection of English Words. Not Generally Used, with Their Significations and Original, […], London: […] H. Bruges for Tho[mas] Burrell  […], →OCLC, page 65:

     ELlinge: Solitary, lonely, melancholy, farre from neighbours: q. elongatus. Suß. a Gallico Eſloigner. Ellende in the Ancient Saxon ſignifies procul, farre off, farre from.]

   • 1854, Mark Antony Lower, “The South Downs—A Sketch”, in Contributions to Literature: Historical, Antiquarian, and Metrical, London: John Russell Smith, →OCLC, page 161:

     His barn stood in a very elenge lonesome place, a goodish bit from de house, and de Pharisees used to come dere a nights and thresh out some wheat and wuts for him, so dat de hep o' threshed corn was ginnerly bigger in de mornin dan when he left it overnight.

   • 1880, Ellen E. Lushington, “Chapter II: Mary”, in A Land and Sea Story, London: Walter Smith, page 17:

     […] but when the sea is so ellinge, and you can't see far into the muddy waves for the white drift of foam-then any one used to such a sight begins to think whose boat will come home, or who may be missing before another sun rises.

• 1900, “ELENGE, adj.”, in Joseph Wright, editor, The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume II (D–G), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 247, column 1:
• “elenge, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.