STRETCH

Definitions

1. 1. Act of stretching, or state of being stretched; reach; effort; struggle; strain; as, a stretch of the limbs; a stretch of the imagination. By stretch of arms the distant shore to gain. Dryden. Those put a lawful authority upon the stretch, to the abuse of yower, under the color of prerogative. L'Estrange.
2. 2. A continuous line or surface; a continuous space of time; as, grassy stretches of land. A great stretch of cultivated country. W. Black. But all of them left me a week at a stretch. E. Eggleston.
3. 3. The extent to which anything may be stretched. Quotations, in their utmost stretch, can signify no more than that Luther lay under severe agonies of mind. Atterbury. This is the utmost stretch that nature can. Granville.
4. 4. The reach or extent of a vessel's progress on one tack; a tack or board.
5. 5. Course; direction; as, the stretch of seams of coal. To be on the stretch, to be obliged to use one's utmost powers. -- Home stretch. See under Home, a.