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.
I stretched the rubber band until it almost broke.
2
To lengthen when pulled.
The rubber band stretched almost to the breaking point.
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 […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] H[enry] Hall, printer to the University, for Tho[mas] Robinson, published 1660, →OCLC:
3
To pull tight.
First, stretch the skin over the frame of the drum.
4
To extend one’s limbs or another part of the body, for example in order to improve the elasticity of one's muscles.
I always stretch my muscles before exercising.
When the cat woke up, it yawned and stretched.
5
To extend physically, especially from a limit point and/or to a limit point.
The beach stretches from Cresswell to Amble.
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[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
2 more examples
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, →LCCN, →OCLC, 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.1984, Science and Civilization in China, volume 6, Cambridge University Press, published 2004, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 483:
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Figuratively To get more use than expected from a limited resource.
I managed to stretch my coffee supply a few more days.
To say crossing the street was brave is stretching the meaning of "brave" considerably.
To say he's been to this park a million times is stretching the numbers. The true number is around 30 or 40.
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To make great demands on the capacity or resources of something.
Her bizarre explanation really stretches credulity.
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:
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To increase.
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:
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To increase, to grow.
As I sat in the waiting room, the minutes stretched into hours.
Unless we rekindle our communication skills, the 2020s "loneliness epidemic" could stretch into a "solitary century."2025 December 9, Rachel Konrad and Matt Abrahams, “Why Young People Are Struggling to Communicate”, in TIME:
Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics To make a pulse or particle bunch longer by applying dispersion to it.
Diffraction gratings are by far the most common elements used to stretch and compress pulses because of their substantial angular dispersion, […]2019, B. Webb et al., “Simulation of grating compressor misalignment tolerances and mitigation strategies for chirped-pulse–amplification systems of varying bandwidths and beam sizes”, in Applied Optics, volume 58, number 2, pages 234-243:
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.
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)
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Ball games, Baseball, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports A quick pitching delivery used when runners are on base where the pitcher slides his leg instead of lifting it.
8
Ball games, Baseball, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports 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.
“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:
Amelia: I mean, you're already a dwarf. Gura: Oh, OK, Stretch.2024 February 10, Amelia Watson, Gawr Gura, 2:46:24 from the start, in 【Deep Rock Galactic】yoooooooooo (YouTube live stream):
After the harvest there was a stretch of clear dry weather, and the animals toiled harder than ever […]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:
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Ireland Extended daylight hours, especially said of the evening in springtime when compared to the shorter winter days.
There is a grand stretch in the evenings.
13
Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports The period of the season between the trade deadline and the beginning of the playoffs.
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:
"Of course, if Cripps likes to stay here and do a stretch for burglary, well and good."1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 132:
He did a seven-year stretch in jail.
› A length of time. › A jail or prison term.
15
Slang A jail or prison term of one year's duration.
› A length of time.
16
A single uninterrupted sitting; a turn.
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Abbreviation, Ellipsis Ellipsis of stretch limousine.