To obtain a list from a cons or a nesting of conses; to prepend an element to a list by forming a cons of that element and the list; to obtain a list from a smaller one by repeated application of such kind of prepending.
This version of length arises naturally from the recursive definition of a list: “a list is either the empty list or an element consed onto another list.” 1992, Peter Norvig, Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp, Morgan Kaufmann, →ISBN, page 62:
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
consed
Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part
lexicographic
consed
Tense=Past
lexicographic
consing
Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part
lexicographic
conses
Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres
lexicographic
cons en · VERB · etymology 3
Meanings
(form-of, indicative, present, singular, third-person) third-person singular simple present indicative of con