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What is the difference between stretch and spread?

stretch | spread |

In transitive terms the difference between stretch and spread

is that stretch is to increase while spread is to cover (something) with a thin layer of some substance, as of butter.

In intransitive terms the difference between stretch and spread

is that stretch is to extend to a limit point while spread is to take up a larger area or space; to expand, be extended.

stretch

English

Verb

  • (label) To lengthen by pulling.
  • (label) To lengthen when pulled.
  • * Boyle
  • The inner membrane because it would stretch and yield, remained unbroken.
  • (label) To pull tight.
  • To get more use than expected from a limited resource.
  • To make inaccurate by exaggeration.
  • (label) To extend physically, especially from limit point to limit point.
  • * , chapter=1
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path […]. It twisted and turned,
  • To extend one’s limbs or another part of the body in order to improve the elasticity of one's muscles
  • (label) To extend to a limit point
  • (label) To increase.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 29, author=Neil Johnston, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Norwich 3-3 Blackburn , passage=Yakubu took advantage of John Ruddy's error to put the visitors back in front, with Chris Samba's header stretching their advantage.}}
  • To stretch the truth; to exaggerate.
  • a man apt to stretch in his report of facts
  • (label) To sail by the wind under press of canvas.
  • The ship stretched to the eastward.

    Noun

    (es)
  • An act of stretching.
  • I was right in the middle of a stretch when the phone rang.
    To say crossing the street was brave was quite a stretch.
  • The ability to lengthen when pulled.
  • That rubber band has quite a bit of stretch.
  • A course of thought which diverts from straightforward logic, or requires extraordinary belief.
  • It's a bit of a stretch to call Boris Karloff a comedian.
  • A segment of a journey or route.
  • It was an easy trip except for the last stretch , which took forever.
  • (label) A quick pitching delivery used when runners are on base where the pitcher slides his leg instead of lifting it.
  • (label) 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.
  • A length of time.
  • He did a 7-year stretch in jail.
  • *
  • After the harvest there was a stretch of clear dry weather, and the animals toiled harder than ever
  • (label) A term of address for a tall person
  • * 2007 , Michael Farrell, Running with Buffalo
  • *:“Hey, Stretch ,” he shouted at a tall, spectacled co-worker, “turn the fucking station, will you? You know I can't stand Rush, and it's all they play on this one. If I hear those assholes whine 'Tom Sawyer' one more time, I may go on a fucking killing spree.
  • Derived terms

    {{der3, at full stretch , by a long stretch , cat stretch , outstretch , overstretch , seventh inning stretch , stretchable , stretch limo , stretch of the imagination , stretch mark , stretch out , stretch pants , stretcher , stretchy}}

    spread

    English

    Verb

  • To stretch out, open out (a material etc.) so that it more fully covers a given area of space.
  • To extend (individual rays, limbs etc.); to stretch out in varying or opposing directions.
  • To disperse, to scatter or distribute over a given area.
  • To proliferate; to become more widely present, to be disseminated.
  • *
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine.
  • To disseminate; to cause to proliferate, to make (something) widely known or present.
  • To take up a larger area or space; to expand, be extended.
  • To smear, to distribute in a thin layer.
  • To cover (something) with a thin layer of some substance, as of butter.
  • To prepare; to set and furnish with provisions.
  • to spread a table
  • * Tennyson
  • Boiled the flesh, and spread the board.
  • (slang) To open one’s legs.
  • * 1984 , (Martin Amis), :
  • This often sounds like the rap of a demented DJ: the way she moves has got to be good news, can't get loose till I feel the juice— suck and spread , bitch, yeah bounce for me baby.
  • * 1991 , (Tori Amos), (Me and a Gun) :
  • Yes I wore a slinky red thing. Does that mean I should spread for you, your friends, your father, Mr Ed?
  • * 2003 , (Outkast), "Spread" (from the album ):
  • I don't want to move too fast, but / Can't resist your sexy ass / Just spread', ' spread for me; / (I can't, I can't wait to get you home)

    Synonyms

    * disseminate * circulate * propagate * put about

    Derived terms

    * spread betting

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of spreading or something that has been spread.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • No flower hath spread like that of the woodbine.
  • An expanse of land.
  • * Addison
  • I have got a fine spread of improvable land.
  • A large tract of land used to raise livestock; a cattle ranch.
  • * 2005 , , 00:11:50:
  • - Can’t wait till I get my own spread and won’t have to put up with Joe Aguirre’s crap no more.
    - I’m savin’ for a place myself.
  • A piece of material used as a cover (such as a bedspread).
  • A large meal, especially one laid out on a table.
  • Any form of food designed to be spread such as butters or jams
  • An item in a newspaper or magazine that occupies more than one column or page.
  • A numerical difference.
  • (business, economics) The difference between the wholesale and retail prices.
  • (trading, economics, finance) The difference between the price of a futures month and the price of another month of the same commodity.
  • (trading, finance) The purchase of a futures contract of one delivery month against the sale of another futures delivery month of the same commodity.
  • (trading, finance) The purchase of one delivery month of one commodity against the sale of that same delivery month of a different commodity.
  • (trading) An arbitrage transaction of the same commodity in two markets, executed to take advantage of a profit from price discrepancies.
  • (trading) The difference between bidding and asking price.
  • (finance) The difference between the prices of two similar items.
  • (geometry) An unlimited expanse of discontinuous points.
  • Synonyms

    * straddle

    Statistics

    *