how long vs strung out

how long

adj
  • Used literally: what duration. 

  • Used literally: what length. 

adv
  • Used literally: for what duration. 

strung out

adj
  • Prolonged in an unnecessary or time-filling manner. 

  • Experiencing withdrawal symptoms of an addiction. 

  • Widely spaced. 

How often have the words how long and strung out occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )