Which way is length and which way is width? I hear people refer to the dimensions of things as "$2$ by $4$" etc. and I know its length by width, but I can't tell if the length dimension is vertical (up and down) or horizontal (side to side). Does anyone know?
 A: I think "length" and "width" are ambiguous.  I can confirm that native English-speaking college students will sometimes use length=2, width=4, and sometimes use length=4, width=2.  Of course, the area is 8 either way.
When I want to avoid ambiguity, I say Area = (base)x(height) or Area = (width)x(height).  For 3-dimensions, I use Volume = (width)x(height)x(depth) or Volume = (length)x(height)x(depth) to avoid ambiguity.  
(Of course there's nothing wrong with Volume = (length)x(width)x(height), but you can't be sure people will label the dimensions the same way.)
If I'm asked to draw a "2 by 4" rectangle, I'll probably draw it two units wide and 4 units tall (taking "2 by 4" to refer to the x- and y-measurements respectively).  But I think this is also ambiguous, and people may satisfy the request with a rectangle at any orientation.
A: The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines width as the measurement of the shortest or shorter side of an object. Similarly that dictionary defines length as the longer or longest dimension of an object. It also defines length as the longer or vertical dimension of a piece of a clothing. Now this is just a bit of "tailoring", that it is common to use elbow-length for measuring the sleeves (vertical) of a shirt, and waist-width (horizontal) of trousers. (It is a different matter if someone's waist-width is more than their elbow length, which is quite possible)
