stretches

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of stretch.

   The athlete stretches carefully before each training session.

   The desert stretches for miles beyond the last village.

   Note

   The -es ending signals a single subject in the present tense: it, she, the road, the athlete. The form follows the verb's two grammars. It can take an object (she stretches the canvas tight) or stand without one (the fabric stretches, the trail stretches to the ridge). The figurative uses always take an object: someone stretches a budget, or stretches the truth.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of stretch.

   The yoga session included several deep stretches for the lower back.

   Quiet stretches of countryside separated the small farming towns.

   Note

   The plural belongs to the countable uses of the noun: stretches of road or coastline, stretches of cloth, the stretches in a warm-up routine. The elastic sense, a fabric's stretch, rarely takes it. The same spelling also serves as the verb's present tense. A determiner or adjective in front usually marks the noun, as in several stretches, long stretches, or the quiet stretches between towns.

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