English Explanatory Dictionary

stretch

English dictionary entry

Meanings

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.
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.
  7. A quick pitching delivery used when runners are on base where the pitcher slides his leg instead of lifting it.
  8. 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. Term of address for a tall person.
  10. The homestretch, the final straight section of the track leading to the finish.
  11. A length of time.
  12. Extended daylight hours, especially said of the evening in springtime when compared to the shorter winter days.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/stɹɛt͡ʃ/ en-us-stretch.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-stretch.wav

Word forms

stretch stretches stretching stretched straught straight strech stremtch

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.

Synonyms

hyperbolize overemphasize overstate big up cut it fat exaggerate overcharge overdo play up stretch three-sheet truss forhang Guy Fawkes hang ketch send to the scaffold scrag string up tuck up stint

Antonyms

compress

Related words

pandiculate

Derived words

antistretch 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 electrostretch final stretch forestretch frontstretch full-stretch home stretch hyperstretch mechanostretch microstretch midstretch nonstretch on a stretch outstretch overstretch prestretch restretch seventh inning stretch stretchability 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 stretchless stretch limo stretch mark stretch of the imagination stretch one's legs stretch one's wings stretch-out stretchout stretch out stretch pants stretch printing stretchproof stretch receptor stretch reflex stretch rope stretch shortening cycle
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