long arm—
1. a far reaching power:
- The long arm, or perhaps one might better say the long purse, of diplomacy at last effected the release of the prisoners.
Cf.: long arm of the law—used with reference to ability of the police to find and catch people who commit crimes:
- The long arm of the law finally nabbed Victoria’s two most infamous financial fugitives.
2. a pole fitted with a hook, etc. for use beyond the ordinary reach of the arm:
- Barnes reached a long arm over the ridge of fallen soil … and groped experimentally around within.
3. a long, narrow part of the sea or river enclosed by the shore:
- Australian rivers often have a long arm or two wandering off into the plain.
long hand—the hand of a clock or watch which indicates the minutes:
- When it is one o’clock the minute hand, the long hand, is pointing toward the 12, while the hour hand is pointing towards the number one.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the consonant compound longhand—ordinary handwriting, as distinguished from shorthand or typing:
- The clerk had to write all the evidence down in longhand.