As far as stretcheth any ground. --Gower.
2. To extend or spread one's self, or one's limbs; as, the
lazy man yawns and stretches.
3. To be extended, or to bear extension, without breaking, as
elastic or ductile substances.
The inner membrane . . . because it would stretch
and yield, remained umbroken. --Boyle.
4. To strain the truth; to exaggerate; as, a man apt to
stretch in his report of facts. [Obs. or Colloq.]
5. (Naut.) To sail by the wind under press of canvas; as, the
ship stretched to the eastward. --Ham. Nav. Encyc.
{Stretch out}, an order to rowers to extend themselves
forward in dipping the oar.
And stretch forth his neck long and small.
--Chaucer.
I in conquest stretched mine arm. --Shak.
2. To draw out to the full length; to cause to extend in a
straight line; as, to stretch a cord or rope.
3. To cause to extend in breadth; to spread; to expand; as,
to stretch cloth; to stretch the wings.
4. To make tense; to tighten; to distend forcibly.
The ox hath therefore stretched his yoke in vain.
--Shak.
5. To draw or pull out to greater length; to strain; as, to
stretch a tendon or muscle.
Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve. --Doddridge.
6. To exaggerate; to extend too far; as, to stretch the
truth; to stretch one's credit.
They take up, one day, the most violent and
stretched prerogative. --Burke.
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. 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. 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. (Naut.) The reach or extent of a vessel's progress on one
tack; a tack or board.
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.