span

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Watching not just the trials and triumphs of a country but a marriage over such a span was an emotional experience.

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Definitions (44)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (13)

  1. noun The extent or measure of space between two points or extremities, as of a bridge or roof; the breadth.
  2. noun The distance between the tips of the wings of an airplane.
  3. noun The section between two intermediate supports of a bridge.
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Examples (50)

  • Major had actually beaten that by becoming Prime Minister within that time-span, and had held two of the glittering offices of state: Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer.
  • Watching not just the trials and triumphs of a country but a marriage over such a span was an emotional experience. —  Ecstatic Days
  • Both before and after the 5-weeks of training, children in all groups completed different pre - and post-tests measuring all of these abilities (the day / night stroop, go / nogo, word span, the span board task from WAIS-R-NI) as well as attention (via block design, ommission errors in an auditory CPT, and ommissions and RT in go / nogo). —  ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science
  • Watching people call in on c-span, they are giving the same kind of reactions. —  Top Stories - Google News
  • This work is all a part of the new eastern span, which is expected to open in 2013. —  SFist
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

width ·  dimension ·  height ·  expanse ·  duration ·  length ·  cycle ·  arc ·  sweep ·  interval ·  stature ·  pier

Used in the same contextWord Family

span:   spanning ·  spanned ·  spans
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English, unit of measurement, from Old English spann; see (s)pen- in Indo-European roots.
  2. Dutch spannen, to harness, from Middle Dutch; see (s)pen- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English spannen, from Anglo-Saxon spannan, sponnan (preterit speónn), gespannan, bind, connect, = Dutch spannan, stretch, bend, hoist, cock (a gun), hitch (horses), = Middle Low German Low German spannen = Old High German spannan, Middle High German G. spannen, extend, connect, = Icelandic spenna, span, clasp, = Swedish spänna, stretch, strain, draw, = Danish spænde, stretch, strain, span, buckle; √ span, perhaps, with present formative -n, from √ spa, extend, in Greek σπάειν, σπᾶν, draw, draw out (see spasm), Latin spatium, extension, space (see space). Cf. spin, speed.
  2. from Middle English spanne, sponne, from Anglo-Saxon span, a span (def. 4), gespan, a joining, connection, = Dutch span, a span, a team of horses, = Old High German spanna, Middle High German G. spanne (later Italian spanna = Old French espan, French empan) = Icelandic spönn (spann-) = Swedish spann = Danish spand, a span; from the verb.
  3. The first element in the compound span-new erroneously taken as a separate word: see span-new, and cf. spick-and-span.
 

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/spæn/
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