'To be on the stretch' definitions:

Definition of 'To be on the stretch'

From: GCIDE
  • Stretch \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. [1913 Webster]
  • By stretch of arms the distant shore to gain. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • Those put a lawful authority upon the stretch, to the abuse of yower, under the color of prerogative. --L'Estrange. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. A continuous line or surface; a continuous space of time; as, grassy stretches of land. [1913 Webster]
  • A great stretch of cultivated country. --W. Black. [1913 Webster]
  • But all of them left me a week at a stretch. --E. Eggleston. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. The extent to which anything may be stretched. [1913 Webster]
  • Quotations, in their utmost stretch, can signify no more than that Luther lay under severe agonies of mind. --Atterbury. [1913 Webster]
  • This is the utmost stretch that nature can. --Granville. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. (Naut.) The reach or extent of a vessel's progress on one tack; a tack or board. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. Course; direction; as, the stretch of seams of coal. [1913 Webster]
  • To be on the stretch, to be obliged to use one's utmost powers.
  • Home stretch. See under Home, a. [1913 Webster]

Words containing 'To be on the stretch'