span

SaySPANUK/spæn/AUS/spæːn/

Noun pluralspans

18 meanings of span

1
verbtransitive
To last through or cover a period of time.
Her career spans more than thirty years.
These stories span three generations of one family.
Similarlast, cover, encompass, stretch
2
verbtransitive
To reach from one side of something to the other.
Like a plank laid across a stream, reaching from one side to the other.
A long bridge spans the wide river.
His big hands can span eight piano keys at once.
Similarcross, bridge, traverse, straddle, reach
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3
nouncountable
The distance that a bridge, beam, or arch reaches between its supports.
The bridge has a span of two hundred feet.
Workers measured the span between the two posts before cutting the wood.
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4
nouncountable
A short length of time or a small amount of space.
He read three books in the span of a week.
Only a narrow span of grass separated the two yards.
Similarperiod, stretch, space, spell, interval
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5
nouncountable
The distance from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other on a bird or plane.
The big bird spread its wings, showing a span of six feet.
This toy plane has a span of about one foot from wingtip to wingtip.
Similarwingspan, wingspread
6
nouncountable
A part of something measured along its length.
A long span of the highway was closed for repairs.
They repainted a short span of fence near the gate.
Similarsection, stretch, length, segment, portion
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7
nouncountable
The distance across an open hand, from the thumb tip to the little finger tip, used to measure things.
Like using your foot to measure how long a room is, but with your hand instead.
She measured the shelf with her hand and found it one span deep.
The fish he caught was almost two spans long.
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8
nouncountable
The length of a wire, rope, or chain between two of its supports.
The longest span of the power line crosses the deep valley.
Each span of the rope bridge hangs between two wooden posts.
Similarstretch, length, section
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9
nouncountable
An old unit of length based on the width of a hand, equal to about nine inches.
The pattern said to cut a strip of cloth one span long.
Sailors once measured short ropes in spans.
10
verbtransitive
To measure something with your open hand, from your thumb to your little finger.
Like measuring a room by walking heel to toe and counting your steps.
Carpenters sometimes span a board with one hand to estimate its width.
She spanned the fabric with her fingers before cutting it.
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11
nouncountable
In math, everything you can make from a set of vectors by adding them and multiplying them by numbers.
Like all the colors you can mix from a few tubes of paint.
The span of those two vectors covers every point on the flat plane.
A single vector has a span that is just one straight line.
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12
verbtransitive
In math, to fill an entire space using sums and multiples of a set of vectors.
Two vectors pointing in different ways span the whole plane, because they can reach every point.
A single vector cannot span the plane, since it only makes one line.
Similargenerate
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13
nouncountable
On a ship, a rope fixed at both ends so a hook or pulley can hang from its middle.
Like a clothesline tied at both ends so you can hang things from the middle.
The crew tied a span between two posts and hung the heavy pulley from its middle.
Sailors checked the span for worn spots before trusting it with the cargo hook.
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14
nounCanadaUScountable
Two horses or other animals that work together pulling as a pair, often matching in color and size.
Like two rowers who pull their oars at exactly the same time.
The farmer hitched a span of gray horses to the wagon.
A good span pulls evenly, so the wagon rides smoothly.
Similarpair, team, yoke, brace
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15
nouncountable
In computing, the least possible time a task needs, even with endless computers working on it together.
Like cooking a big dinner: even with many helpers, some steps must happen one after another.
Even with a thousand computers, the program cannot finish faster than its span.
The team made the span shorter by removing steps that had to wait for each other.
Similardepth
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16
verbtransitive
To tie an animal's legs together so it cannot walk far away.
Like tying a boat to the dock so it cannot drift away.
Farmers span their horses at night so the animals stay near camp.
He spanned the mare before letting her graze by the river.
Similarhobble, fetter, shackle
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17
verbdatedUSintransitive
Of two horses, to look and move alike, like a matching pair.
Those two grays span well, so they pull the buggy as a team.
The colts spanned nicely after a season of training together.
Similarmatch
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18
verbdated
Past tense of spin. An old form: most people now say spun.
The little top span across the table and dropped off the edge.
So they went in to where Gudruda sat spinning in the hall, singing as she span.
1891, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “How Hall of Lithdale Took Tidings to Iceland”Here, span means spun, so she was spinning thread while singing.
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Practice

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Origins

Meanings 3–9, 11, 13–15

From an Old English word spann, meaning a span or handbreadth. It goes back to a root meaning "to stretch."

Meanings 1–2, 10, 12, 16–17

From an Old English verb spannan, meaning to stretch or span.

Meaning 18

From Old English spann, an old past-tense form of the verb meaning "to spin."