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# 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/span/#m1)

2) A span is the distance from one end of something to the other: the span of a bridge, a bird's wingspan. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/span/#m2)

3) To span something is to stretch across it or last over it: the bridge spans the river. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/span/#m3)

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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/span/#m4)

5) Span new is an old way of saying brand new, as if something has never been used. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/span/#m5)

### 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/span/#x1)
- Measure your hand span with a ruler. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/span/#x2)
- A mayfly's life span is only a day or two. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/span/#x3)
- The bridge spans the whole river. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/span/#x4)
- Small children have a short attention span. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/span/#x5)
- The story spans three generations of a family. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/span/#x6)
- After tidying, my room was spick and span. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/span/#x7)
- So now, here's the play, brin-bran-span new! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/span/#x8)

### 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.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/geography/58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life/0/)
- [Four-square it shall be and double: a span shall be the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.814/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «span» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/span/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.