astretch

Stretched out, extended.

A thing half dead, with weary arms astretch / For anything to cling to

My second mate was standing […] with his short, thick legs astretch, for the gale had left a considerable swell behind it,

Straining to perceive, alert (of sensory organs or mental faculties).

1833, Hamlet Wood, The Negro: An Historical Poem […] describing the unchristian and wicked principle and practices of slavery, Burslem, UK: for the author, p. 41, […] with attentive gaze, As winds dispelled the dark’ning haze, My eyes astretch—and all my mind afloat, To learn what sort of beings filled the boat;

At the same moment every faculty is keenly astretch for further information which may aid in the conclusion he must come to before he stirs hand or foot.