lunge: [18] ‘Length’ is the etymological notion underlying the word lunge. It comes ultimately from French allonger ‘lengthen’, a verb based on the adjective long ‘long’. Its fencing application derived, in French, from the idea of ‘extending one’s sword to strike a blow’. It was originally borrowed into English in the 17th century as allonge, but this was soon shortened to lunge. [lunge etymology, lunge origin, 英语词源]