different between stretch vs swathe

English

Etymology

From Middle English strecchen, from Old English stre??an (“to stretch, hold out, extend, spread out, prostrate”), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch, make taut or tight”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)treg-, *streg-, *treg- (“stiff, rigid”). Cognate with West Frisian strekke, Dutch strekken (“to stretch, straighten”), German strecken (“to stretch, straighten, elongate”), Danish strække (“to stretch”), Swedish sträcka (“to stretch”), Dutch strak (“taut, tight”), Albanian shtriqem (“to stretch”). More at stark.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st??t?/
• Rhymes: -?t?

Verb

stretch (third-person singular simple present stretches, present participle stretching, simple past and past participle stretched or (obsolete) straught or (obsolete) straight)

1. (transitive) To lengthen by pulling.

2. (intransitive) To lengthen when pulled.
   • 1660, Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanical: Touching the Spring of the Air and their Effects

     The inner membrane […] because it would stretch and yield, remained unbroken.

3. (transitive) To pull tight.

4. (figuratively, transitive) To get more use than expected from a limited resource.

5. (figuratively, transitive) To make inaccurate by exaggeration.

6. (intransitive) To extend physically, especially from limit point to limit point.

7. (intransitive, transitive) To extend one’s limbs or another part of the body in order to improve the elasticity of one's muscles

8. (intransitive) To extend to a limit point

9. (transitive) To increase.
10. (obsolete, colloquial) To stretch the truth; to exaggerate.

11. (nautical) To sail by the wind under press of canvas.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Ham. Nav. Encyc to this entry?)

12. (slang, transitive, archaic) To execute by hanging.
13. To make great demands on the capacity or resources of something.

Translations

See also

• pandiculate

Noun

stretch (plural stretches)

1. An act of stretching.

2. The ability to lengthen when pulled.

3. A course of thought which diverts from straightforward logic, or requires extraordinary belief or exaggeration.

4. A segment of a journey or route.

5. A segment or length of material.

6. (Britain, slang, archaic) A walk.
   • Evelyn Underhill, quoted in 2010, Evelyn Underhill, ?Carol Poston, The Making of a Mystic: New and Selected Letters of Evelyn Underhill (page 81)

     In the afternoon I went for a stretch into the country, & about 4 it cleared up pretty well, so I hurried back & we got a cart & drove to Bassano, a little town about 8 miles off, that we wanted to see.

7. (baseball) A quick pitching delivery used when runners are on base where the pitcher slides his leg instead of lifting it.
8. (baseball) A long reach in the direction of the ball with a foot remaining on the base by a first baseman in order to catch the ball sooner.
9. (informal) Term of address for a tall person.
10. (horse racing) The homestretch, the final straight section of the track leading to the finish.
11. A length of time.

    • After the harvest there was a stretch of clear dry weather, and the animals toiled harder than ever […]

    1. (Ireland) Extended daylight hours, especially said of the evening in springtime when compared to the shorter winter days.

    2. (sports) The period of the season between the trade deadline and the beginning of the playoffs.
    3. (slang) A jail or prison term.

       Synonym: stint

       1. (slang) A jail or prison term of one year's duration.
    4. A single uninterrupted sitting; a turn.
12. A stretch limousine.

Translations

Derived terms

Descendants

• Esperanto: stre?i

Further reading

• stretch at OneLook Dictionary Search

References

• (a walk): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary

Anagrams

• strecht

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /swe?ð/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /sw?ð/, /swe?ð/, /sw?ð/
• Rhymes: -e?ð

Etymology 1

From Middle English swathe, swath, from Old English swaþu, swæþ (“bandage”), probably akin to Old English swaþul, sweþel (“a swathe, wrap, band, bandage”).

Noun

swathe (plural swathes)

1. A bandage; a band

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English swathen, from Old English *swaþian, akin to Old English besweþian (“to swathe, swaddle”).

Verb

swathe (third-person singular simple present swathes, present participle swathing, simple past and past participle swathed)

1. To bind with a swathe, band, bandage, or rollers
   • 1664, A briefe description of the whole world wherein is particularly described all the monarchies, empires, and kingdoms of the same, with their academies, as also their severall titles and scituations thereunto adjoyning, Archbishop Abbot, quoted in A Dictionary of the English Language, Samuel Johnson, 1755

     Their children are never swathed, or bound about with any thing when they are first born' but are put naked into the bed with their parents to lie.

   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4

     The head was swathed in linen bands that had been white, but were now stained and discoloured with damp, but of this I shall not speak more, and beneath the chin-cloth the beard had once escaped.

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English swathe, from Old English swaþu (“track, trace”), from Proto-Germanic *swaþ?. More at swath.

Noun

swathe (plural swathes)

1. (chiefly British) Alternative spelling of swath
   • 2012, The Economist, Sep 29th 2012 issue, Venezuela’s presidential election: The autocrat and the ballot box

     As well as the advantages of abused office, Mr Chávez can boast enduring popularity among a broad swathe of poorer Venezuelans. They like him for his charisma, humble background and demotic speech.

Translations

Anagrams

• Wheats, saweth, wheats

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English swaþu, swæþ.

Alternative forms

• suaþe, swaþe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?swa?ð(?)/, /?swa?/

Noun

swathe (plural swathez) (rare)

2. A strip or wrap, especially for wrapping babies in.

Related terms

• swathel, swethel
• swathen
• swathing

Descendants

• English: swaðe

References

• “sw??th(e, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-24.

Etymology 2

From Old English swaþu, from Proto-Germanic *swaþ?, from Proto-Indo-European *swem(b?)- (“to bend, turn, swing”).

Alternative forms

• swath, swað, swad
• (influenced by sward) swarth

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?swa?ð(?)/, /?swa?/

Noun

swathe (plural swathes)

2. A swath; the track left by a scythe.
3. (rare) A strip of land as a unit of measure.
4. (rare) A trace left behind by something.

Descendants

• English: swath, swathe
• Scots: swa, swarth

References

• “sw??th(e, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-24.