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.
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            by stretch of arms the distant shore to gain.
                                                  --dryden.
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            those put a lawful authority upon the stretch, to
            the abuse of yower, under the color of prerogative.
                                                  --l'estrange.
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   2. a continuous line or surface; a continuous space of time;
      as, grassy stretches of land.
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            a great stretch of cultivated country. --w. black.
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            but all of them left me a week at a stretch. --e.
                                                  eggleston.
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   3. the extent to which anything may be stretched.
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            quotations, in their utmost stretch, can signify no
            more than that luther lay under severe agonies of
            mind.                                 --atterbury.
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            this is the utmost stretch that nature can.
                                                  --granville.
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   4. naut. the reach or extent of a vessel's progress on one
      tack; a tack or board.
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   5. course; direction; as, the stretch of seams of coal.
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   to be on the stretch, to be obliged to use one's utmost
      powers.

   home stretch. see under home, a.
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see also:
to be on the stretch home stretch home