span
/spæn/ verb B2- To extend across (a gap or space between two sides). · The suspension bridge spanned the canyon.
- To cover or extend over (an area or distance). · The parking lot spans three acres.· The forest spans the entire valley.
- To extend through (a period of time). · The novel spans three centuries.· His career spanned five decades.
- To measure by the span of the hand with the fingers extended, or with the fingers encompassing the object. · to span a space or distance; to span a cylinder
- To generate an entire space by means of linear combinations.
- To be matched, as horses.
- To fetter, as a horse; to hobble.
He/she/it spans · Past spanned · Past participle spanned · -ing form spanning
Verb forms
- Base form
- span
- He/she/it
- spans
- Past
- spanned
- Past participle
- spanned
- -ing form
- spanning
From the library
A bridge spanned it midway and from there to its lower end, where an amber-hued belt of sand-hills shut it in from the dark blue gulf beyond, the water was a glory of many shifting hues--the most spiritual shadings of crocus and rose and ethereal green, with other elusive tintings for which no name has ever been found.
So tall was he that his hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his breadth seemed to span it across from side to side.
Cyril Overton, Trinity College, Cambridge, announced the arrival of an enormous young man, sixteen stone of solid bone and muscle, who spanned the doorway with his broad shoulders, and looked from one of us to the other with a comely face which was haggard with anxiety.
In the centre of this room there was an upright beam, which had been placed at some period as a support for the old worm-eaten baulk of timber which spanned the roof.
Other matches
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