span

«span» in Mova's school dictionary: the length of time something lasts: a life span, an… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a span, spans); verb (span, spans, spanned, spanning)

meaning for a pupil

1) A span is the length of time something lasts: a life span, an attention span. tree →

2) A span is the distance from one end of something to the other: the span of a bridge, a bird's wingspan. tree →

3) To span something is to stretch across it or last over it: the bridge spans the river. tree →

4) A hand span is the distance from the tip of your thumb to the tip of your little finger when your hand is spread out. tree →

5) Span new is an old way of saying brand new, as if something has never been used. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths lessons on measurement, pupils measure their hand span and use it as a non-standard unit, then compare in centimetres. In science, «life span» (how long an animal lives) and «wingspan» appear in animal facts; in history, a time line can span hundreds of years. In design and technology, a bridge's span is tested with models. Phrases: «life span», «attention span», «wingspan», «hand span», «span the river», «spick and span» (very clean).

examples

• An albatross has the biggest wingspan of any bird. tree →
• Measure your hand span with a ruler. tree →
• A mayfly's life span is only a day or two. tree →
• The bridge spans the whole river. tree →
• Small children have a short attention span. tree →
• The story spans three generations of a family. tree →
• After tidying, my room was spick and span. tree →
• So now, here's the play, brin-bran-span new! tree →

note

Verb forms double the n: «spanned», «spanning». «Span» is also an old past form of «spin», now rare. Maths: a span is a length, so measure it in cm or m; a life span is a time, so measure it in years.

In the corpora

• The Earth is about 4.54 billion years old, a span so huge that geologists call it deep time.
• Four-square it shall be and double: a span shall be the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «span» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.