at a stretch

Idioms  

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.”

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Example Sentences

Most people can focus only for three or four hours at a stretch, anyhow, so trying to work for eight solid hours isn’t really an effective use of your attention span.

From The Wall Street Journal

By winter’s end, he could spend several weeks at a stretch asleep in his cave.

From Literature

But, as I’ve discussed in my ode to the Big Quarterly Prep Day, I do prefer it in ceremonious bursts: a few hours at a stretch, a good playlist, iced coffee sweating onto the counter, the sense that I am provisioning not just dinner but a future version of myself.

From Salon

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

From The Wall Street Journal

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.

From Slate