stretch
/stɹɛt͡ʃ/ verb B1- To lengthen by pulling. · I stretched the rubber band until it almost broke.
- To lengthen when pulled. · The rubber band stretched almost to the breaking point.
- To pull tight. · First, stretch the skin over the frame of the drum.
- To extend one’s limbs or another part of the body, for example in order to improve the elasticity of one's muscles. · I always stretch my muscles before exercising.· When the cat woke up, it yawned and stretched.
- To extend physically, especially from a limit point and/or to a limit point. · The beach stretches from Cresswell to Amble.
- To get more use than expected from a limited resource. · I managed to stretch my coffee supply a few more days.
- To make inaccurate by exaggeration. · To say crossing the street was brave is stretching the meaning of "brave" considerably.· To say he's been to this park a million times is stretching the numbers. The true number is around 30 or 40.
- To make great demands on the capacity or resources of something. · Her bizarre explanation really stretches credulity.
He/she/it stretches · Past stretched · Past participle stretched · -ing form stretching
Verb forms
- Base form
- stretch
- He/she/it
- stretches
- Past
- stretched
- Past participle
- stretched
- -ing form
- stretching
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
Before them was a great stretch of country having a floor as smooth and shining and white as the bottom of a big platter.
The first day’s journey was through the green fields and bright flowers that stretched about the Emerald City on every side.
A Fox, who had gone round them at a distance several times, saw them both stretched on the ground with the Kid lying untouched in the middle.
“Adieu, adieu, dearest Edmond!” cried Mercédès, stretching out her arms to him from the balcony.
Other matches
Learn stretch in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.