The ox hath therefore stretched his yoke in vain.
Shak.
5. To draw or pull out to greater length; to strain; as, to stretch a
tendon or muscle.
Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve.
Doddridge.
6. To exaggerate; to extend too far; as, to stretch the truth; to
stretch one's credit.
They take up, one day, the most violent and stretched prerogative.
Burke.
Stretch, v. i. 1. To be extended; to be drawn out in length or in
breadth, or both; to spread; to reach; as, the iron road stretches
across the continent; the lake stretches over fifty square miles.
As far as stretcheth any ground.
Gower.
2. To extend or spread one's self, or one's limbs; as, the lazy man
yawns and stretches.
3. To be extended, or to bear extension, without breaking, as elastic
or ductile substances.
The inner membrane . . . because it would stretch and yield,
remained umbroken.
Boyle.
4. To strain the truth; to exaggerate; as, a man apt to stretch in his
report of facts. [Obs. or Colloq.]
5. (Naut.) To sail by the wind under press of canvas; as, the ship
stretched to the eastward. Ham. Nav. Encyc.
Stretch out, an order to rowers to extend themselves forward in dipping
the oar.
Stretch, n. 1. Act of stretching, or state of being stretched; reach;
effort; struggle; strain; as, a stretch of the limbs; a stretch of the
imagination.
By stretch of arms the distant shore to gain.
Dryden.
Those put a lawful authority upon the stretch, to the abuse of
yower, under the color of prerogative.
L'Estrange.
2. A continuous line or surface; a continuous space of time; as, grassy
stretches of land.
A great stretch of cultivated country.
W. Black.
But all of them left me a week at a stretch.
E. Eggleston.