stretch

Definitions

General English

Aviation

  • verb to

    extend

    or enlarge

    beyond

    the proper limits

Medical

  • verb to pull something out, or make something longer

Slang

  • noun a tall, thin person. A term of cheerful mockery. The equivalent of the British streak, or rather the nickname ‘Lofty’, since stretch is often a term of address.
  • noun a period of imprisonment. This underworld term originally referred specifically to one year’s incarceration; it has now been generalised to mean a term of indeterminate length.

Sports

  • noun the straightening and extending of a part of the body, e.g. as an exercise
  • noun the straight part of a racecourse, especially the final section approaching the

    finishing line

Origin & History of “stretch”

Stretch comes

from

a prehistoric

west

Germanic *strakkjan (source

also

of German strecken and Dutch strekken).

this

was formed from a base *strak-,

which

probably also produced

English

straggle (14th c.). It is not

certain

where

*strak- came from, but probably it was an alteration of *strak- ‘rigid’ (source of English starch and stark). Reversal of

speech

sounds (

here

a and r) is

quite

common; the process is known as metathesis. The notions of ‘rigidity’ and ‘stretching’ do not

appear

very

compatible at

first

sight, but it is

thought

that

the original application of stretch was to ‘stretching the limbs’, in the sense of making

them

straight or ‘stiff’. Straight comes from a

former

past

participle

of stretch.
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