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Span   /spæn/   Listen
Span

noun
1.
The complete duration of something.
2.
The distance or interval between two points.
3.
Two items of the same kind.  Synonyms: brace, couple, couplet, distich, duad, duet, duo, dyad, pair, twain, twosome, yoke.
4.
A unit of length based on the width of the expanded human hand (usually taken as 9 inches).
5.
A structure that allows people or vehicles to cross an obstacle such as a river or canal or railway etc..  Synonym: bridge.
6.
The act of sitting or standing astride.  Synonym: straddle.
verb
1.
To cover or extend over an area or time period.  Synonyms: cross, sweep, traverse.  "The parking lot spans 3 acres" , "The novel spans three centuries"



Spin

verb
(past span; past part. spun; pres. part. spinning)
1.
Revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis.  Synonyms: gyrate, reel, spin around, whirl.
2.
Stream in jets, of liquids.
3.
Cause to spin.  Synonyms: birl, twirl, whirl.
4.
Make up a story.
5.
Form a web by making a thread.
6.
Work natural fibers into a thread.
7.
Twist and turn so as to give an intended interpretation.
8.
Prolong or extend.  Synonym: spin out.



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WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Span" Quotes from Famous Books



... exhibited itself in a remarkable talent for mortifying persons in a small way; by a gesture, an expression, a look, cloaked too very often with all the character of profound deference. The old nobility of Spain delighted to address each other only by their names, when in the presence of a spick-and-span grandee; calling each other, "Infantado," "Sidonia," "Ossuna," and then turning round with the most distinguished consideration, and appealing to the ...
— Sybil - or the Two Nations • Benjamin Disraeli

... The subtle vibrations of the ether, propagated on all sides from the surface of luminous bodies, travel at the rate of 186,300 miles a second, or (in round numbers) six billions of miles a year. Four and a third such measures are needed to span the abyss that separates us from the nearest fixed star. In other words, light takes four years and four months to reach the earth from Alpha Centauri; yet Alpha Centauri lies some ten billions of miles nearer to us (so far as is yet known) than ...
— A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century - Fourth Edition • Agnes M. (Agnes Mary) Clerke

... appearing before them, they asked him what he knew of a bridge. He replied that he could readily describe his plan of the one they proposed to build, if they would be good enough to write down his figures. The span of the arch, 18 feet," said he, "being a semicircle, makes 27: the arch-stones must be a foot deep, which, if multiplied by 27, will be 486; and the basis will be 72 feet more. This for the arch; but it will require good backing, for which purpose there are proper stones in the old Roman wall ...
— The Life of Thomas Telford by Smiles • Samuel Smiles

... and when she saw the King's son gazing in at her, she blushed red all over, cast down her eyes and span on. Whether the thread was quite as even as usual I really cannot say, but she went on spinning till the King's son had ridden off. Then she stepped to the window and opened the lattice, saying, 'The room is so hot,' but she looked after him as long as she ...
— The Green Fairy Book • Various

... dressed in fine style, in dainty ruffled frocks and necklaces and bright hair-ribbons, tripped gracefully in and advanced to meet Mrs. Morris, quite like grown ladies in their manners. Behind them came several boys, spick and span in fresh white linen waists and silk neckties and ...
— Dickey Downy - The Autobiography of a Bird • Virginia Sharpe Patterson


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