- To be on the stretch
- Stretch Stretch, n.
1. Act of stretching, or state of being stretched; reach;
effort; struggle; strain; as, a stretch of the limbs; a
stretch of the imagination.
[1913 Webster]
By stretch of arms the distant shore to gain. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
Those put a lawful authority upon the stretch, to the abuse of yower, under the color of prerogative. --L'Estrange. [1913 Webster]
2. A continuous line or surface; a continuous space of time; as, grassy stretches of land. [1913 Webster]
A great stretch of cultivated country. --W. Black. [1913 Webster]
But all of them left me a week at a stretch. --E. Eggleston. [1913 Webster]
3. The extent to which anything may be stretched. [1913 Webster]
Quotations, in their utmost stretch, can signify no more than that Luther lay under severe agonies of mind. --Atterbury. [1913 Webster]
This is the utmost stretch that nature can. --Granville. [1913 Webster]
4. (Naut.) The reach or extent of a vessel's progress on one tack; a tack or board. [1913 Webster]
5. Course; direction; as, the stretch of seams of coal. [1913 Webster]
{To be on the stretch}, to be obliged to use one's utmost powers.
{Home stretch}. See under {Home}, a. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
