The meaning of the word span

Recent Examples on the Web

With roles officially spanning consultancy, brand and marketing services, Pinewood was involved in the design, construction and initial management of the Malaysian facility.


—Patrick Frater, Variety, 6 Apr. 2023




His personal collection of historic locks spans eras and continents: an Indian lock featuring a sculpture of Shiva and a Venezuelan motorbike lock and a bulky Soviet dual-custody padlock requiring two bureaucrats with two sets of keys to open.


—Hazlitt, 5 Apr. 2023




Among the records prosecutors say were falsified are vouchers in Trump’s general ledger maintained by his company, the Trump Organization, and invoices from Cohen also kept by Trump’s business spanning most of 2017.


—Rosalind S. Helderman, Perry Stein, Ann E. Marimow, Shayna Jacobs, The Washington Post, Anchorage Daily News, 5 Apr. 2023




Beginning at sunset, each dinner will feature a different four-course menu, spanning West African, northern Mexican and other global cuisines.


—Danielle Dorsey, Los Angeles Times, 5 Apr. 2023




Voting is open for the next Cincinnati.com Athletes of the Week ballot of the 2022-2023 high school sports year for the week spanning March 27- April 2.


—Melanie Laughman, The Enquirer, 4 Apr. 2023




There is, of course, no comparison between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump; one stands accused of multitudinous felonies spanning several jurisdictions, and the other, for all her corruption, stood accused of having an email server.


—Laura Jedeed, The New Republic, 4 Apr. 2023




Leticia Stauch was arrested in South Carolina and charged in the boy’s death a few weeks later, following a massive search that spanned multiple counties.


—CBS News, 4 Apr. 2023




Its website has a more exhaustive list of such FAQs, spanning reproductive health, mental health, legality, confidentiality, and more.


—Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz, 4 Apr. 2023

Seven months after the shooting, a video provided to The Dallas Morning News details how a small crash escalated into gunfire over the span of four minutes.


—Sarah Bahari, Dallas News, 4 Apr. 2023




Other skeletal remains discovered over a three-week span in late July and early August along the shoreline at the Boulder Beach swimming area belonged to one person, the coroner’s statement said Tuesday.


—Ken Ritter, The Arizona Republic, 29 Mar. 2023




By inscribing the action over a large span of time, and by specifying matters of public policy that play a role in the drama, Rockwell (who both wrote and directed the film) simultaneously looks deeply at her characters’ experiences and appropriately exalts them as figures in a panorama of history.


—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 29 Mar. 2023




The twister hopscotched over a 10-block span, ripping off a roof and damaging at least five homes.


—Christian Martinez, Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar. 2023




One campaign uncovered by Microsoft targeted more than 10,000 organizations over a 10-month span.


—Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 14 Mar. 2023




Kinlaw, saddled with knee issues since college, has played in just 24 regular-season games over that three-season span.


—Michael Silver, San Francisco Chronicle, 13 Mar. 2023




The Patriots capped the 2014 season by defeating the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 in Super Bowl XLIX for the first of their three NFL championships over a five-season span.


—Mark Inabinett | Minabinett@al.com, al, 13 Mar. 2023




Nine appearances against New England were accrued over that span.


—Oliver Thomas, Forbes, 2 Apr. 2023


See More

охватывать, перекрывать, прясть, диапазон, пролет, интервал, пядь

глагол ↓

существительное ↓

Словосочетания

the average life span of house cats — средняя продолжительность жизни домашних кошек  
slanting span — наклонный пролёт  
a span of smb.’s activities — сфера деятельности кого-л.  
to span one’s wrist — взять кого-л. за запястье  
to span a river with a bridge — построить мост через реку  
span of beam — пролёт балки  
wing span — размах крыла, размах крыльев  
multiple-span bridge — многопролетный мост  
short-span bridge — малопролетный мост  
single-span bridge — однопролетный мост  
clearance of span — подъем пролета  

Примеры с переводом

Примеры, ожидающие перевода

Возможные однокоренные слова

spanless  — необъятный, неизмеримый
spanner  — гаечный ключ, вилочный ключ
inspan  — впрягать, лошадей
overspan  — перекрывать, класть поперек

Формы слова

verb
I/you/we/they: span
he/she/it: spans
ing ф. (present participle): spanning
2-я ф. (past tense): spanned
3-я ф. (past participle): spanned

noun
ед. ч.(singular): span
мн. ч.(plural): spans

What do we mean by span?

The extent or measure of space between two points or extremities, as of a bridge or roof; the breadth. noun

The distance between the tips of the wings of an airplane. noun

The section between two intermediate supports of a bridge. noun

Something, such as a railroad trestle or bridge, that extends from one point to another. noun

The distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger when the hand is fully extended, formerly used as a unit of measure equal to about 9 inches (23 centimeters). noun

A period of time. noun

To extend across in space or time. transitive verb

To encircle or cover with the hand or hands. transitive verb

To measure in spans. transitive verb

A stretch of rope made fast at either end. noun

A pair of animals, such as oxen, matched as in size or color and driven as a team. noun

To harness (a horse, etc.) to a vehicle; inspan; furnish (a vehicle) with animals to draw (it).

Wholly; entirely; freshly: as, my hands are span clean (sometimes spandy clean).

The full extent or course over which anything is stretched or prolonged; the space or time covered or included between terminal points; entire reach from end to end or from side to side: as, the span of life; the span of a bridge. noun

A part or division of something between terminal points: as, a bridge of ten spans. noun

Extent of stretch, physical or mental; distance over which anything may be extended; reach or grasp, as of the memory or of perception. noun

As a measure, originally, the extent between the tips of the thumb and little finger when stretched out: the oldest use of the word in English. noun

Figuratively, any short space or period’; a brief or limited extent or course; a relatively small measure of continuity. noun

The hand with the fingers outspread, as for measuring or for grasping a handful of something. noun

The space from the thumb to the end of the little finger when extended; nine inches; an eighth of a fathom.

(by extension) A small space or a brief portion of time.

A portion of something by length; a subsequence.

The spread or extent of an arch or between its abutments, or of a beam, girder, truss, roof, bridge, or the like, between supports.

The length of a cable, wire, rope, chain between two consecutive supports.

A rope having its ends made fast so that a purchase can be hooked to the bight; also, a rope made fast in the center so that both ends can be used.

A pair of horses or other animals driven together; usually, such a pair of horses when similar in color, form, and action.

The space of all linear combinations of something.

The time required to execute a parallel algorithm on an infinite number of processors, i.e. the shortest distance across a directed acyclic graph representing the computation steps.

A derogatory, insulting term used to denote stupidity. Can be considered racist, as the term may apply to other races deemed inferior by the speaker. Urban Dictionary

A word in place of «loads» or «very» Urban Dictionary

Dick-Head Urban Dictionary

Spider-man; a fictional superhero in the Marvel Universe Urban Dictionary

The fine art/act of stalking, scrutinizing and mentally/physically tormenting a person as if they were your girlfriend or boyfriend. This is usually because the person who is doing the spanning is arrogant, a pompous windbag or they feel like they are owed. They have feelings for the person they span and have decided that person belongs to them without the consent, permission, reciprocation of same feelings or even the knowledge of the victim they span. The art/act of spanning is often conducted in front of friends or others in an effort to embarrass and belittle the person they span into acting the way they desire. Urban Dictionary

Norwegian rock quartet. Possibly the best band on the planet with such audio jems as ‘Papa’, ‘Don’t Think The Way They Do’ and ‘Baby’s Come Back’ and outstanding live sets.
Members include Jarle Bernhoft, Fridtjof nilsen, Fredrik Wallumrod and Kim Nordbaek.
Past members include Vemund Stavnes who left in late 2003 for personal reasons. Urban Dictionary

Short for special fan, it’s when a fan is given personal advantages that other fans don’t have by the person they’re stanning. Urban Dictionary

Measurement of ass from cheek to cheek, much like wing span. Urban Dictionary

Watch the American taxpayers get robbed, LIVE! Urban Dictionary

A proposed pedestrian overpass directly from Mexico to Canada, completely skipping the U.S.A. Urban Dictionary

English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English spanne, from Old English spann, from Proto-Germanic *spannō (“span, handbreadth”). Cognate with Dutch span, spanne, German Spanne. The sense “pair of horses” is probably from Old English ġespan, ġespann (“a joining; a fastening together; clasp; yoke”), from Proto-West Germanic [Term?]. Cognate with Dutch gespan, German Gespann.

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /spæn/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /spæːn/
• Rhymes: -æn

Noun[edit]

span (plural spans)

1. The full width of an open hand from the end of the thumb to the end of the little finger used as an informal unit of length.
2. Any of various traditional units of length approximating this distance, especially the English handspan of 9 inches forming ⅛ fathom and equivalent to 22.86 cm.
3. (by extension) A small space or a brief portion of time.
   • 1699, George Farquhar, The Constant Couple

     Life’s but a span; I’ll every inch enjoy.

   • 2007. Zerzan, John. Silence.

     The unsilent present is a time of evaporating attention spans,

   He has a short attention span and gets bored within minutes.

4. A portion of something by length; a subsequence.
   • 2004, Robert Harris, Robert Warner, The Definitive Guide to SWT and JFace (page 759)

     For example, in OpenOffice.org or Microsoft Word, each span of text can have a style that defines key characteristics about the text: • What font it uses • Whether it’s normal, bolded, italicized, […]

5. (architecture, construction) The spread or extent of an arch or between its abutments, or of a beam, girder, truss, roof, bridge, or the like, between supports.

   • 1961 January, “Talking of Trains: The Severn Bridge disaster”, in Trains Illustrated, page 5:

     The force of the explosion demolished one pair of piers and two spans of the bridge crashed down into the river on top of the barges.

6. (architecture, construction) The length of a cable, wire, rope, chain between two consecutive supports.
7. (nautical) A rope having its ends made fast so that a purchase can be hooked to the bight; also, a rope made fast in the center so that both ends can be used.
8. (US, Canada) A pair of horses or other animals driven together; usually, such a pair of horses when similar in color, form, and action.
9. (mathematics) The space of all linear combinations of something.
10. (computing) The time required to execute a parallel algorithm on an infinite number of processors, i.e. the shortest distance across a directed acyclic graph representing the computation steps.

    • 2017, Ananya Kumar; Guy E. Blelloch; Robert Harper, “Parallel Functional Arrays”, in ACM SIGPLAN Notices, →DOI:

      We use the term span (also called depth, or dependence depth) to refer to the number of parallel steps assuming an unbounded number of processors.

11. wingspan of a plane or bird

Derived terms[edit]

[edit]

• spang (Scotland)

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

• chord

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English spannen, from Old English spannan, from Proto-Germanic *spannaną (“to stretch, span”). Cognate with German spannen, Dutch spannen.

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /spæn/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /spæːn/
• Rhymes: -æn

Verb[edit]

span (third-person singular simple present spans, present participle spanning, simple past and past participle spanned)

1. (transitive) To extend through the distance between or across.

   The suspension bridge spanned the canyon.

   • 2023 March 8, “Network News: Grant for repairs at Gaunless Bridge”, in RAIL, number 978, page 9:

     Completed in 1823, Gaunless Bridge was designed by George Stephenson to span the River Gaunless in West Auckland, forming part of a line serving Witton Park Colliery.

2. (transitive) To extend through (a time period).

   The parking lot spans three acres.

   The novel spans three centuries.

3. (transitive) To measure by the span of the hand with the fingers extended, or with the fingers encompassing the object.

   to span a space or distance; to span a cylinder
4. (mathematics) To generate an entire space by means of linear combinations.
5. (intransitive, US, dated) To be matched, as horses.
6. (transitive) To fetter, as a horse; to hobble.

Translations[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

From Middle English span, from Old English spann, from Proto-Germanic *spann, first and third person singular preterit indicative of Proto-Germanic *spinnaną (“to spin”).

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian, General American) IPA^(key): /spæn/
• Rhymes: -æn

Verb[edit]

span

1. (archaic, now nonstandard) simple past tense of spin
   • 1891, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “How Hall of Lithdale Took Tidings to Iceland”, in Eric Brighteyes, 2nd edition, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 204:

     So they went in to where Gudruda sat spinning in the hall, singing as she span.

   • 2014 September 29, Reuters, “Five spectators in critical condition following stunt truck accident”, in Irish Independent‎^[1], archived from the original on 11 March 2016:

     Five spectators remained in critical condition on Monday, a day after they were injured when a giant pick-up truck span out of control during a stunt show in a Dutch town, killing three people, local officials said.

Anagrams[edit]

• ANPs, NPAS, NSPA, PANs, PNAS, PNAs, Pans, SNAP, naps, pans, snap

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /spɑn/
• Hyphenation: span
• Rhymes: -ɑn

Etymology 1[edit]

From older gespan.

Noun[edit]

span n (plural spannen, diminutive spannetje n)

1. A span, a team (pair or larger team of draught animals). [from 17th c.]
2. A cart or instrument with a team of draught animals. [from 18th c.]
3. A romantic pair, couple. [from 19th c.]

Derived terms[edit]

• driespan
• tweespan
• vierspan
• zesspan

Descendants[edit]

• Afrikaans: span

Etymology 2[edit]

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb[edit]

span

1. first-person singular present indicative of spannen
2. imperative of spannen

Anagrams[edit]

• snap

Middle English[edit]

Noun[edit]

span

1. Alternative form of spanne

Sranan Tongo[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Dutch gespannen.

Noun[edit]

span

1. tense

Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Deverbal from spana.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /spɑːn/
• Rhymes: -ɑːn

Noun[edit]

span n

1. (colloquial) an act of spying (something)

   Jag hade fått span på en dam som kan få en att bli monogam

   I had spied a lady that can make one monogamous

2. (colloquial) stakeout

References[edit]

• span in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

West Frisian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Low German or Dutch spannen (“to yoke, stretch”).

Noun[edit]

span n (plural spannen, diminutive spantsje)

1. span, team (pair of draught animals in a team)
2. pair, couple

Further reading[edit]

• “span (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011