Showing results for "span"

• past participle of spin.
• past tense form of spin.

Jump To:

• span
  span

  noun

  the distance between the tip of the thumb and the tip of the little finger when the hand is fully extended.
• Span.
  Span.

  abbreviation

  Spaniard.

span

¹ American  

[span] / spæn /

noun

1. the distance between the tip of the thumb and the tip of the little finger when the hand is fully extended.

2. a unit of length corresponding to this distance, commonly taken as 9 inches (23 centimeters).

3. a distance, amount, piece, etc., of this length or of some small extent.

   a span of lace.

4. Civil Engineering, Architecture.

   1. the distance between two supports of a structure.

   2. the structure so supported.

   3. the distance or space between two supports of a bridge.

5. the full extent, stretch, or reach of anything.

   a long span of memory.

6. Aeronautics. the distance between the wing tips of an airplane.

7. a limited space of time, as the term or period of living.

   Our span on earth is short.

8. Mathematics. the smallest subspace of a vector space that contains a given element or set of elements.

---

verb (used with object)

spanned, spanning

1. to measure by the hand with the thumb and little finger extended.

2. to encircle with the hand or hands, as the waist.

3. to extend over or across (a section of land, a river, etc.).

4. to provide with something that extends over.

   to span a river with a bridge.

5. to extend or reach over (space or time).

   a memory that spans 90 years.

6. Mathematics. to function (in a subspace of a vector space) as a span.

7. Archery. to bend (the bow) in preparation for shooting.

span ² American  

[span] / spæn /

noun

1. a pair of horses or other animals harnessed and driven together.

   Synonyms:

   team

---

span ³ American  

[span] / spæn /

verb

Archaic.

1. a simple past tense of spin.

---

Span. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. Spaniard.

2. Spanish.

---

span ¹ British  

/ spæn /

noun

1. the interval, space, or distance between two points, such as the ends of a bridge or arch

2. the complete duration or extent

   the span of his life

3. psychol the amount of material that can be processed in a single mental act

   apprehension span

   span of attention

4. short for wingspan

5. a unit of length based on the width of an expanded hand, usually taken as nine inches

---

verb

1. to stretch or extend across, over, or around

2. to provide with something that extends across or around

   to span a river with a bridge

3. to measure or cover, esp with the extended hand

Span. ² British  

abbreviation

1. Spanish

---

span ³ British  

/ spæn /

noun

1. a team of horses or oxen, esp two matched animals

---

span ⁴ British  

/ spæn /

verb

1. archaic a past tense of spin

---

span Idioms  

1. see spick and span.

---

Synonym Usage

See pair.

Etymology

Origin of span¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun spanne, sponne, spayn, Old English span(n), spon(n); cognate with German Spanne, Dutch span, Old Norse spǫnn; the verb is derivative of the noun

Origin of span²

An Americanism dating to 1760–70; from Dutch: “team (of oxen, horses)”

Explanation

Any distance between two things is called a span. These end points can be physical, like the span of a rope between two trees, or they can be more abstract, such as the span of time between five and six o'clock. Span comes from the Old English spann, the width of the stretched-out hand, measured from thumb to little finger. It came to refer to various other measurements, such as the distance across an arch. The first reference to a length of time came in the late 16th century, and the phrase "attention span" first appeared in 1922 (as "span of attention").

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

span Span. spanned spanning

It was the third straight weekly gain for the precious metal, which has gained more than 14% over that span.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

It is the world's biggest single colony of little penguins, which have a life span of about six years with habitats in southern Australia -- mostly Tasmania -- and New Zealand.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

That leaves scientists with relatively little information about how life changed during an enormous span covering about 90 percent of Earth's history.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026

“Glaciers are leaving geologic time and are vanishing in the span of a human lifetime, which is unprecedented,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

The half-year since he had last been with him seemed neither a long nor a short span of time.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

Comrade is from Fr. camarade, and this from Span. camarada, originally a "room-full," called in the French army une chambrée.

From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley

In Arab. it is "Takwím," whence the Span. and Port.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 07 by Sir Richard Francis Burton

Lasso, Span. lazo, Lat. laqueus, snare, is a doublet of Eng. lace.

From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley

It is a word of strange and uncertain etymology, and is said to be connected with Span. garra, a claw, Fr. jarret, a thigh, and other apparently incongruous words.

From The Bible in Spain - Vol. 2 [of 2] by George Henry Borrow

Stories of Californian life often mention Span. reata, a tethering rope, from the verb reatar, to bind together, Lat. re-aptare.

From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley

An anxious Zaragoza spoke with StubHub at least 10 times in calls that spanned nearly three hours in the days leading up to the game.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

Her career has spanned more than 80 years across stage, television and film.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

His career spanned more than three decades, including winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008 with Marketa Irglova, which featured in the low-budget musical romance film Once.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

Throughout a prolific career that spanned decades, Saar brought issues of race and racism to the foreground in ways that were immediate and visceral.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

To get to the boardinghouse, they’d have to cross a little iron footbridge that spanned the river, but Coram didn’t go that way.

From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman

Fans can expect performances spanning symphony orchestras, ballet, jazz, opera and theater as well as events with libraries, bookstores, coffee shops, yogurt/ice cream shops and more.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

With objects spanning millennia and cultures, this exhibit explores the dynamic relationships among instruments, art and our physical selves.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

Despite its importance, however, the hypothesis had rarely been evaluated using large empirical datasets spanning a broad range of insects.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026

First published in 1902, then updated in 1905, the report reveals the country’s linguistic history spanning colonization, independence and westward expansion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

Each of these Cogs is laser marked with initials and dates spanning hundreds of years.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

Related Words

• interval
• length
• period
• space
• spell
• stretch
• term