Showing results for "span"

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

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• 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.

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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

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span ³ American  

[span] / spæn /

verb

Archaic.

1. a simple past tense of spin.

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Span. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. Spaniard.

2. Spanish.

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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

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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

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span ³ British  

/ spæn /

noun

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

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span ⁴ British  

/ spæn /

verb

1. archaic a past tense of spin

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span Idioms  

1. see spick and span.

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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

The hearing was scheduled to span 14 panels with dozens of speakers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

The property is also situated just a few miles from his studios, which span 330 acres.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

"This formation is beautiful, but temporary, and has a limited life span," the park service said in 2021.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

Passengers described rushing the cockpit after the plane suddenly plummeted, losing around 17,000 feet of altitude in the span of a minute, according to the Flightradar24 website.

From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026

“The short life span has always been a prime limiting factor in education,” he told George and Julie.

From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien

According to Prof. Skeat it is derived from the Span. filigrana, from “filar, to spin, and grano, the grain or principal fibre of the material.”

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 3 "Fenton, Edward" to "Finistere" by Various

Carib, the n being perhaps due to contamination with Span. canino, canine, voracious.

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

Fr. sire, sieur, seigneur, Ital. signor, Span. señor, with their compounds monsieur, messer, etc., all representing either senior or seniorem.

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

The Span. hermano and the Port. irmāo, the regular words for brother, are from Lat. germanus, born of the same father and mother.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" by Various

In alligator, Span. el lagarto, the lizard, from Lat. lacertus, we have the Spanish definite article.

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

Year: 2015 Compiled by: Laura Bennett Of note: Although the numerical scale spanned from 1–10, one particularly ignominious scene earned a score of −1.

From Slate ● Oct. 7, 2026

“My service has spanned both Republican and Democratic administrations. I am not a politician, and I have no partisan loyalties,” he said.

From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026

The government did not say over what time period the underpayments spanned.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

That investigation spanned seven years and roped in more than a dozen other automakers, identifying over 4,000 reports of sunroof fractures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

This huge room was filled morning, afternoon, and evening with inmates, and my day shift spanned two of those times.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

The researchers compared five different forms of aggression, ranging from ordinary conflicts to lethal attacks, using a large dataset spanning many primate species.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026

Paramount traces its roots back 1912 and also boasts more than 100 Oscars for classics spanning from The Godfather to Titanic, though the studio has not mirrored the same recent spate of Hollywood honours.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

The musicians were smiling, the spectators tapped and clapped, and that magical sense of timelessness was real, spanning multiple generations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

I’ve been laid off multiple times in my short career and I have lost faith that the traditional career spanning decades at one company even exists anymore.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026

At a point near the north end of the woods road there was a bridge spanning the ravine that cut a deep, jagged gash across the road and through the fields beyond.

From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt

Related Words

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