at a stretch

1. Also, at one stretch. At one time, during one period. For example, Working quickly, she hoped to finish all the drawings at a stretch. In contrast to the nearly synonymous at a sitting, this idiom, first recorded in 1774, does not imply being seated while engaging in a single continuous activity. Rather, it transfers the meaning of stretch as “a continuous length” to “a continuous time period.”

Example Sentences

We can ignore the news for days at a stretch, something I feel entitled to do after four decades in the news business.

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I also hadn’t done my hearing any favors by working the graveyard shift at a nightclub during college—eight uninterrupted hours at a stretch of noise exposure that vastly exceeded safe levels.

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I had chalked up the rapture of swimming for three, four, five uninterrupted hours at a stretch solely to the joy I have always felt being alone in a body of open water.

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Citu also alleged that workers at the plant were being "pressurised to finish each product - like a refrigerator, washing machine, or TV - within 10-15 seconds", work non-stop for four to five hours at a stretch, and do their jobs in unsafe conditions.

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The men stay on these positions, flying missions day and night, for up to five days at a stretch and spend as little time outside as possible.

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