stretch
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /stɹɛt͡ʃ/
rhymes: -ɛtʃ
Forms: form: stretches
Etymology: From Middle English strecchen, from Old English streċċan (“to stretch, hold out, extend, spread out, prostrate”), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch, make taut or tight”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)treg-, *streg-, *treg- (“stiff, rigid”). Cognate with West Frisian strekke, Dutch strekken (“to stretch, straighten”), German strecken (“to stretch, straighten, elongate”), Danish strække (“to stretch”), Swedish sträcka (“to stretch”), Dutch strak (“taut, tight”), Albanian shtriqem (“to stretch”). More at stark.
Senses: examples: text: I was right in the middle of a stretch when the phone rang.
glosses: An act of stretching.
examples: text: That rubber band has quite a bit of stretch.
glosses: The ability to lengthen when pulled.
examples: text: It's a bit of a stretch to call Boris Karloff a comedian.
text: To say crossing the street was brave was quite a stretch.
glosses: A course of thought which diverts from straightforward logic, or requires extraordinary belief or exaggeration.
examples: text: It was an easy trip except for the last stretch, which took forever.
text: It's a tough stretch of road in the winter, especially without chains.
glosses: A segment of a journey or route.
examples: text: a stretch of cloth
glosses: A segment or length of material.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 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)
glosses: A walk.
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A quick pitching delivery used when runners are on base where the pitcher slides his leg instead of lifting it.
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: 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.
examples: text: “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.
ref: 2007, Michael Farrell, Running with Buffalo:
text: Amelia: I mean, you're already a dwarf.
Gura: Oh, OK, Stretch.
ref: 2024 February 10, Amelia Watson, Gawr Gura, 2:46:24 from the start, in 【Deep Rock Galactic】yoooooooooo (YouTube live stream):
glosses: Term of address for a tall person.
topics: hobbies
horse-racing
horseracing
horses
lifestyle
pets
racing
sports
glosses: The homestretch, the final straight section of the track leading to the finish.
examples: text: After the harvest there was a stretch of clear dry weather, and the animals toiled harder than ever […]
ref: 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
glosses: A length of time.
examples: text: There is a grand stretch in the evenings.
glosses: A length of time.
Extended daylight hours, especially said of the evening in springtime when compared to the shorter winter days.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2000, Rob Neyer, Eddie Epstein, GBaseball Dynasties: The Greatet Teams of All Time, page 179:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A length of time.
The period of the season between the trade deadline and the beginning of the playoffs.
examples: text: He did a seven-year stretch in jail.
glosses: A length of time.
A jail or prison term.
synonyms: stint
glosses: A length of time.
A jail or prison term.
A jail or prison term of one year's duration.
synonyms: stint
glosses: A length of time.
A single uninterrupted sitting; a turn.
glosses: Ellipsis of stretch limousine.
Derived terms: astretch
at a stretch
at full stretch
backstretch
brand stretch
by a long stretch
by any stretch
by any stretch of the imagination
by no stretch
by no stretch of imagination
by no stretch of the imagination
cat stretch
full-stretch
home stretch
on a stretch
outstretch
overstretch
seventh inning stretch
stretchable
stretch a point
stretch-attend posture
stretch band
stretcher
stretch fabric
stretchflation
stretch forth
stretch four
stretch goal
stretch hemp
stretching-iron
stretch it out
stretch limo
stretch mark
stretch of the imagination
stretch one's legs
stretch one's wings
stretch-out
stretch out
stretchout
stretch pants
stretch printing
stretch receptor
stretch reflex
stretch rope
stretch target
stretch the envelope
stretch the long bow
stretch the point
stretch the rules
stretch the truth
stretch thin
stretch wrap
stretchy
time-stretch
time stretch analog-to-digital converter