the distance between the tip of the thumb and the tip of the little finger when the hand is fully extended.
a unit of length corresponding to this distance, commonly taken as 9 inches (23 centimeters).
a distance, amount, piece, etc., of this length or of some small extent.
a span of lace.
Civil Engineering, Architecture.
the distance between two supports of a structure.
the structure so supported.
the distance or space between two supports of a bridge.
the full extent, stretch, or reach of anything.
a long span of memory.
Aeronautics. the distance between the wing tips of an airplane.
a limited space of time, as the term or period of living.
Our span on earth is short.
Mathematics. the smallest subspace of a vector space that contains a given element or set of elements.
to measure by the hand with the thumb and little finger extended.
to encircle with the hand or hands, as the waist.
to extend over or across (a section of land, a river, etc.).
to provide with something that extends over.
to span a river with a bridge.
to extend or reach over (space or time).
a memory that spans 90 years.
Mathematics. to function (in a subspace of a vector space) as a span.
Archery. to bend (the bow) in preparation for shooting.
Spaniard.
Spanish.
the interval, space, or distance between two points, such as the ends of a bridge or arch
the complete duration or extent
the span of his life
psychol the amount of material that can be processed in a single mental act
apprehension span
span of attention
short for wingspan
a unit of length based on the width of an expanded hand, usually taken as nine inches
to stretch or extend across, over, or around
to provide with something that extends across or around
to span a river with a bridge
to measure or cover, esp with the extended hand
See pair.
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
An Americanism dating to 1760–70; from Dutch: “team (of oxen, horses)”
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").
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In a new study published in Nature Health, researchers analyzed more than 400,000 Reddit posts written by nearly 70,000 users over a span of more than five years.
From Science Daily • May 24, 2026
Instead, too many filmmakers took the crowd’s attention span for granted; even the strongest films in competition could delete a half-hour of dead air.
From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026
If you have a better sense of how long you’ll live, you can claim Social Security at the optimal time and adjust your portfolio to match your expected life span.
From Barron's • May 21, 2026
The firm plans to eventually shift more advisory work to the platform from its existing one, meaning Claude will span the workflows of two of KPMG’s three service lines.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026
That is the difference a few years’ span in age can make: one day you see the world as a child does, largely oblivious to its dangers.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
