Stretch

How to spell stretch

7 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce stretch

What does stretch mean?

1. verbTo extend something to its full length, or to make it longer, wider, or tauter by pulling.
2. nounA continuous area of land or water, or a period of time.

Stretch in a sentence

• verb

  Runners often stretch their calf muscles before a long race.

• noun

  The final stretch of the motorway was closed for repairs.

• verb

  The elastic waistband will stretch to fit most sizes.

• noun

  She worked a long stretch of night shifts at the hospital.

Where does stretch come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from the Old English verb streccan, which meant to extend, to spread out, or to reach as far as possible. It belongs to the West Germanic family and is closely related to the Dutch strekken and the German strecken, all carrying the same idea of drawing something out to its full length. The cluster of consonants at the start, str-, and the soft -tch ending have stayed remarkably stable through the centuries, even as the meaning broadened from the purely physical act of pulling a limb or a cloth to abstract uses such as a stretch of time or stretching the truth. The -tch spelling, rather than a simple -ch, follows the regular English pattern for a short vowel sound, much as in catch, fetch, and match. Because the word is so old and native, its spelling rarely changed; the only common slip is forgetting the t before the ch.

How the word is built

• stretch (from Old English streccan: to extend or reach out)