stretch

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To reach out your arms, legs, or body to their full length.

   He stood up to stretch after sitting for three hours.

2. 2
   verb

   To make something longer or wider by pulling it.

   She stretched the elastic band before tying it.

3. 3
   verb

   To become longer or wider when pulled.

   This fabric stretches to fit any size.

4. 4
   noun

   A continuous area of land, road, or water.

   We drove along a long stretch of empty highway.

5. 5
   noun

   A continuous period of time.

   He worked for a long stretch without taking a break.

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.

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