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Glite Dictionary
↔️ To cover ⏳ A length or period 🌉 A bridge part 🤚 An old unit 🏇 A straddling position
span

span

5 6.7
The position of sitting or standing with one leg on each side of something
  • noun
  • /spæn/
  • Archaic
translation icon : postura a horcajadas
  • The horse jumped over the fence, landing in a graceful span before galloping away.

Examples

  • Like the legs span on that is bigger than a cup that we own.

  • She leaps into the air, does a round-house kick, and lands perfectly on the narrow span.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • My point is not that she has a long attention span—like most children, her span depends on the situation—but that Hartford's songs had given the river meaning; they had helped her make sense of the Mississippi.

    Academic text (1993)

  • He stood with his legs in a wide span over the fence, trying to see what was on the other side.

  • To cross the stream, she positioned herself in a careful span across the fallen log.

Synonyms

straddle
vsspan
1 5.4

A position of sitting or standing with a leg on each side of something

has identical meaning but is a different word form

Compounds

attention span
36 3.4

The time someone can focus on one thing without getting distracted

spick-and-span
3 4.2

Very clean and tidy, looking almost new

spic-and-span
3 4.9

Completely clean and tidy with no dust or dirt

span loading
  • Specialized
8.5

The weight of a plane for each meter of wing length

Surface Forms

span singular
spans plural

Etymology

Span meaning the act of sitting with one leg on each side comes from the same idea of 'stretching'; a helpful way to remember it is to picture your legs 'spanning' an object, much like the word straddle.