Definition of "distance"

distance

/ˈdɪs.tɪns/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural distances
1. The amount of space between two points, usually geographical points, usually (but not necessarily) measured along a straight line.
  Quotations
  Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.
  1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
2. Length or interval of time.
  Quotations
  ten years' distance between my writing the one and the other
  1718, Matthew Prior, Preface to a Collection of Poems
  the writings of Euclid at the distance of two thousand years
  1795, John Playfair, Elements of Geometry
3. (informal) The difference; the subjective measure between two quantities.
4. Remoteness of place; a remote place.
  Quotations
  As he was about to descend, he heard a voice from a distance, hallooing, "Rip Van Winkle! Rip Van Winkle!"
  1819 June 23, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Rip Van Winkle”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number I, New York, N.Y.: […] C. S. Van Winkle, […], page 71
  'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view.
  1799, Thomas Campbell, The Pleasure of Hope
  [He] waits at distance till he hears from Cato.
  1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, Act I, scene v, page 1
5. Remoteness in succession or relation.
6. A space marked out in the last part of a racecourse.
  Quotations
  the horse that ran the whole field out of distance
  1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […]
7. (uncountable, figuratively) The entire amount of progress to an objective.
8. (uncountable, figuratively) A withholding of intimacy; alienation; variance.
  Quotations
  Setting them [factions] at distance, or at least distrust amongst themselves.
  1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Seditions and Troubles”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret
  On the part of Heaven, / Now alienated, distance and distaste.
  1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,
  In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass. […] Strangers might enter the room, but they were made to feel that they were there on sufferance: they were received with distance and suspicion.
  1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […]
9. The remoteness or reserve which respect requires; hence, respect; ceremoniousness.
  Quotations
  though you ſee / The King is kind, I hope your modeſty / Will know, what diſtance to the Crown is due.
  1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour […]‎, London: Printed by J.M. for H. Herringman, published 1667, Act I, scene ii, page 4
  ’Tis by respect and distance that authority is upheld.
  1706, Francis Atterbury, A Sermon Preached in the Guild-Hall Chapel, September 28 1706
10. The space measured back from the winning-post which a racehorse running in a heat must reach when the winner has covered the whole course, in order to run in the final heat.
verb
third-person singular simple present distances, present participle distancing, simple past and past participle distanced
1. (transitive, also reflexive) To move away (from) someone or something.
  Quotations
  But Gisby distances himself from calling TPE an inter-city operator.
  2023 November 1, Philip Haigh, “TPE must choose the right route to a brighter future”, in RAIL, number 995, page 57
2. (transitive) To leave at a distance; to outpace, leave behind.
  Quotations
  Then the horse, with muscles strong as steel, distanced the sound.
  1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 71
3. (transitive) To lose interest in a specific issue.

Definition of "distance"

distance

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