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stretch

Pronunciation: /stɹɛt͡ʃ/

The English word “stretch” has 20 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To lengthen by pulling.
  2. To lengthen when pulled.
  3. To pull tight.
  4. To extend one’s limbs or another part of the body, for example in order to improve the elasticity of one's muscles.
  5. To extend physically, especially from a limit point and/or to a limit point.
  6. To get more use than expected from a limited resource.
  7. To make inaccurate by exaggeration.
  8. To make great demands on the capacity or resources of something.
  9. To increase.
  10. To increase, to grow.
  11. To sail by the wind under press of canvas.
  12. To make a pulse or particle bunch longer by applying dispersion to it.
  13. To execute by hanging.
  14. To stretch the truth; to exaggerate.

noun

  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. A walk.

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.