Pronunciations (5)
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/spæn/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
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/span/
Pronunciation notes
- British
- Northern-England
- Scotland
- Southern
- Standard
- Wales
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/spæːn/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
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/spɛn/
Pronunciation notes
- New-Zealand
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spæn
Noun
The full width of an open hand from the end of the thumb to the end of the little finger used as an informal unit of length.
Any of various traditional units of length approximating this distance, especially the English handspan of 9 inches forming ⅛ fathom and equivalent to 22.86 cm.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
The truth is that the charm of her body made up for her other faults: she measured less than 7 spans¹ from her feet to the top of her head, and her back, which weighed somewhat heavily on her, forced her to look down at the ground more than she would have wished. [...] 1. A span is approximately eight inches.
A small space or a brief portion of time.
Usage- broadly
- Examples
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He has a short attention span and gets bored within minutes.
"Why in ten thousand years scarce will the rain and storms lessen a mountain top by a span in thickness?"
More examples (3)
Yet not to Earth's contracted Span, Thy Goodneſs let me bound; […]
Life's but a span; I'll every inch enjoy.
The unsilent present is a time of evaporating attention spans,
A portion of something by length; a subsequence.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
For example, in OpenOffice.org or Microsoft Word, each span of text can have a style that defines key characteristics about the text: • What font it uses • Whether it's normal, bolded, italicized, […]
The spread or extent of an arch or between its abutments, or of a beam, girder, truss, roof, bridge, or the like, between supports.
- Examples
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The force of the explosion demolished one pair of piers and two spans of the bridge crashed down into the river on top of the barges.
The length of a cable, wire, rope, chain between two consecutive supports.
A rope having its ends made fast so that a purchase can be hooked to the bight; also, a rope made fast in the center so that both ends can be used.
A pair of horses or other animals driven or sold together; usually, such a pair of horses usually being similar in color, form, and action.
Usage- Canada
- US usage
- collective
- Examples
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A span of water buffalo, terrified out of their usual lethargy by sight of the plane, stampeded, pursued by a swearing and scarcely less terrified Hindu farmer.
More examples (1)
A span of goats harnessed to a cart is second only to ponies, in a child's estimation; therefore, the beginning of this lesson may well be a span of goats thus employed.
This was an action for a breach of warranty upon the sale of a span of horses.
More examples (3)
When good oxen are worth 80 or 85 dollars a yoke, a span of horses at the same comparative rate of value will cost from $180 to $200.
a span of horses costing two hundred dollars will last ten years, and then be worthless
Float, covered with pieces of woolen cloth from the mill, decorated with flags and bunting, drawn by a span of white horses and a span of black ones covered with white woolen blankets
The space of all linear combinations of vectors within a set.
The time required to execute a parallel algorithm on an infinite number of processors, i.e. the shortest distance across a directed acyclic graph representing the computation steps.
- Examples
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We use the term span (also called depth, or dependence depth) to refer to the number of parallel steps assuming an unbounded number of processors.
wingspan of a plane or bird
Verb
To extend across (a gap or space between two sides).
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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The suspension bridge spanned the canyon.
The rivers were spanned by arches of solid masonry.
More examples (1)
Completed in 1823, Gaunless Bridge was designed by George Stephenson to span the River Gaunless in West Auckland, forming part of a line serving Witton Park Colliery.
To cover or extend over (an area or distance).
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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The parking lot spans three acres.
The forest spans the entire valley.
To extend through (a period of time).
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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The novel spans three centuries.
His career spanned five decades.
To measure by the span of the hand with the fingers extended, or with the fingers encompassing the object.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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to span a space or distance; to span a cylinder
Mine hand alſo hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath ſpanned the heauens: when I call vnto them, they ſtand vp together.
To generate an entire space by means of linear combinations.
To be matched, as horses.
Usage- US usage
- Dated
- Intransitive
To fetter, as a horse; to hobble.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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We spanned the dogs high up a corrie to the south of the ridge […]
Noun
the complete duration of something
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the job was finished in the span of an hour
the distance or interval between two points
- Broader terms
two items of the same kind
a unit of length based on the width of the expanded human hand (usually taken as 9 inches)
- Broader terms
a structure that allows people or vehicles to cross an obstacle such as a river or canal or railway etc.
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
the act of sitting or standing astride
- Synonyms
Verb
to cover or extend over an area or time period
- Examples
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Rivers traverse the valley floor
The parking lot spans 3 acres
More examples (1)
The novel spans three centuries