ELL, in Zoology. See CERVUS, MAMMALIA Index. ELL, (ulna), a measure, which obtains, under different denominations, in most countries, whereby cloths, stuffs, linens, silks, &c. are usually measured; answering nearly to the yard of England, the canna of Italy, the vara of Spain, the palm of Sicily, &c.
Servius will have the ell to be the space contained between the two hands when stretched forth; but Suetonius makes it only the cubit.
The ells most frequently used with us are the English and Flemish; the former containing three feet nine inches, or one yard and a quarter; the latter only 27 inches, or three quarters of a yard; so that the ell English is to the Flemish ell as five to three. In Scotland, the ell contains 37 English inches.
M. Ricard, in his Treatise of Commerce, reduces the ells thus: 100 ells of Amsterdam are equal to 98 of Brabant, Antwerp, and Brussels; to 58 of England and France; to 120 of Hamburg, Frankfurt, Leipzig, and Cologne; 125 of Breslau; 110 of Bergen and Drontheim; and 117 of Stockholm.