Definition of "stretch"

stretch

/stɹɛt͡ʃ/

verb
third-person singular simple present stretches, present participle stretching, simple past and past participle stretched or (obsolete) straught or (obsolete) straight
1. (transitive) To lengthen by pulling.
2. (intransitive) To lengthen when pulled.
  Quotations
  The inner membrane […] because it would stretch and yield, remained unbroken.
  1659 December 30 (date written), Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects, (Made, for the Most Part, in a New Pneumatical Engine) […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] H[enry] Hall, printer to the University, for Tho[mas] Robinson, published 1660
3. (transitive) To pull tight.
4. (figuratively, transitive) To get more use than expected from a limited resource.
5. (figuratively, transitive) To make inaccurate by exaggeration.
6. (intransitive) To extend physically, especially from limit point to limit point.
  Quotations
  Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path […]. It twisted and turned, […] and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights.
  1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
  Behind them, stretching in a long line east and west, were the Roan and Book Cliffs, cut to their base by the river's gorge, and meandering away in long wavy lines distorted by heat haze and the smoke of forest fires.
  1954, Wallace Stegner, Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West, Houghton Mifflin, page 75
  Three varieties of wild rice, O. rufipogon, O. officinalis and O. meyeriana, have been found in China, in a zone stretching from Hainan to Taiwan and from Northern Kwangsi to Ching-hung¹ on the Upper Mekong in Yunnan.¹ 景洪
  1984, Science and Civilization in China‎, volume 6, Cambridge University Press, published 2004, page 483
7. (intransitive, transitive) To extend one’s limbs or another part of the body in order to improve the elasticity of one's muscles
8. (intransitive) To extend to a limit point
9. (transitive) To increase.
  Quotations
  Yakubu took advantage of John Ruddy's error to put the visitors back in front, with Chris Samba's header stretching their advantage.
  2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3-3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport
10. (obsolete, colloquial) To stretch the truth; to exaggerate.
11. (nautical) To sail by the wind under press of canvas.
12. (slang, transitive, archaic) To execute by hanging.
13. (transitive) To make great demands on the capacity or resources of something.
  Quotations
  By the fullest exploitation of modern signalling, multiple-unit operation and flying and burrowing junctions the S.R. has greatly increased the capacity of its tracks to carry this growing load of peak-hour passengers, but that capacity is now stretched to the limit.
  1960 March, “Talking of Trains: The problem of the peak”, in Trains Illustrated, page 130
noun
plural stretches
1. An act of stretching.
2. The ability to lengthen when pulled.
3. A course of thought which diverts from straightforward logic, or requires extraordinary belief or exaggeration.
4. A segment of a journey or route.
5. A segment or length of material.
6. (UK, slang, archaic) A walk.
  Quotations
  In the afternoon I went for a stretch into the country, & about 4 it cleared up pretty well, so I hurried back & we got a cart & drove to Bassano, a little town about 8 miles off, that we wanted to see.
  a. 1941, Evelyn Underhill, quoted in 2010, Evelyn Underhill, Carol Poston, The Making of a Mystic: New and Selected Letters of Evelyn Underhill (page 81)
7. (baseball) A quick pitching delivery used when runners are on base where the pitcher slides his leg instead of lifting it.
8. (baseball) A long reach in the direction of the ball with a foot remaining on the base by a first baseman in order to catch the ball sooner.
9. (informal) Term of address for a tall person.
  Quotations
  “Hey, Stretch,” he shouted at a tall, spectacled co-worker, “turn the fucking station, will you? You know I can't stand Rush, and it's all they play on this one. If I hear those assholes whine 'Tom Sawyer' one more time, I may go on a fucking killing spree.
  2007, Michael Farrell, Running with Buffalo
10. (horse racing) The homestretch, the final straight section of the track leading to the finish.
11. A length of time.
  Quotations
  After the harvest there was a stretch of clear dry weather, and the animals toiled harder than ever […]
  1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 6, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg
  1. (Ireland) Extended daylight hours, especially said of the evening in springtime when compared to the shorter winter days.
  2. (sports) The period of the season between the trade deadline and the beginning of the playoffs.
    Quotations
    The '42 Cardinals are best known for their amazing stretch run. St. Louis won 43 of their last 51 games and came back from a double-digit deficit in games in early August to edge out the Dodgers for the N.L. flag.
    2000, Rob Neyer, Eddie Epstein, GBaseball Dynasties: The Greatet Teams of All Time‎, page 179
  3. (slang) A jail or prison term.
    (slang) A jail or prison term of one year's duration.
  4. A single uninterrupted sitting; a turn.
12. A stretch limousine.

Definition of "stretch"

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noun

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