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🛏️ To lie flat 🤲 To reach farther
to stretch out

to stretch out

21 2.5
Lie down with your body straight to rest or relax
  • phrasal verb
  • /strɛtʃ aʊt/
translation icon : tumbarse
  • I went to the back seat and stretched out full length.

Examples

  • Other times, I stretched out in a big chair reading magazines and listening to the radio.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Lilly, wreathed in her black sack dress, is stretched out on the bed.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • You gonna go in there and stretch out on my bed?

    Fences (2016)

  • Hey, do you wanna stretch out here?

    Midnight Cowboy (1969)

  • We can just stretch out on the carpet if you...

    Melinda and Melinda (2004)

  • I hope you don't mind if I stretched out for a while.

    Heaven & Earth (1993)

  • Danger of discovery past, he came and stretched out beside me, wearing only his kilt and stockings.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Verena sank into a corner of the sofa and stretched out her long and elegantly shod legs.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • And it's in summer, and she's stretched out on a terrace… in this sort of old-fashioned long skirt that's kind of pulled up.

    My Dinner with Andre (1981)

  • After a long day, I love to stretch out on the couch and relax.

Synonyms

to rest
vsto stretch out
816 1.0

To stop activity to relax or sleep and get energy back

is specific to the body being fully extended flat rather than any general pause
to lie down
vsto stretch out
221 1.0

To put your body flat on a bed to rest or sleep

is done with the body fully extended rather than just flat
to sprawl
vsto stretch out
32 4.1

To sit or lie with arms and legs spread out

is about full body extension for rest rather than an ungainly spread
to sprawl out
vsto stretch out
  • Informal
5 3.8

Lie or sit with arms and legs spread out and relaxed

is performed with the body fully extended rather than with splayed limbs
to recline
vsto stretch out
4 2.9

To make someone lean back into a comfortable position

is performed with the body fully extended rather than merely leaned back
to lay supine
vsto stretch out
  • Specialized
6.2

To lie on your back with your face up

is done fully extended regardless of facing direction

Antonyms

to sit up
126 1.0

To move from lying down to an upright position

to curl up
  • Informal
57 2.8

To move your body so your arms and legs are close together to feel warm and safe

How Reclined

to sprawl
32 4.1
to stretch out
21 2.5
to lie down
221 1.0
to recline
11 3.2
to sit up
126 1.0

Surface Forms

stretch out infinitive
stretched out past
stretched out past participle
stretching out present participle
stretches out third person singular

Morphology

stretch + out

The meaning 'to lie down with your body fully extended' is directly derivable from 'stretch' (to extend) combined with the particle 'out' (indicating outward/fully), yielding the sense of extending the body outward/fully. This compositional motion/extension pattern is common and predictable, so a B1 learner who knows the parts will likely understand the MWE.

Etymology

Stretch out comes from the picture of making your whole body long to relax. When you lie down and push your arms and legs out until your body stretches, you are resting, so the phrase means 'to lie down fully extended, especially to rest or relax'.