span

The full width of an open hand from the end of the thumb to the end of the little finger used as an informal unit of length.

Any of various traditional units of length approximating this distance, especially the English handspan of 9 inches forming ⅛ fathom and equivalent to 22.86 cm.

A small space or a brief portion of time.

He has a short attention span and gets bored within minutes.

"Why in ten thousand years scarce will the rain and storms lessen a mountain top by a span in thickness?"

A portion of something by length; a subsequence.

For example, in OpenOffice.org or Microsoft Word, each span of text can have a style that defines key characteristics about the text: • What font it uses • Whether it's normal, bolded, italicized, […]

The spread or extent of an arch or between its abutments, or of a beam, girder, truss, roof, bridge, or the like, between supports.

The force of the explosion demolished one pair of piers and two spans of the bridge crashed down into the river on top of the barges.

To extend through the distance between or across.

The suspension bridge spanned the canyon.

The rivers were spanned by arches of solid masonry.

To extend through (a time period).

The parking lot spans three acres.

The novel spans three centuries.

To measure by the span of the hand with the fingers extended, or with the fingers encompassing the object.

to span a space or distance; to span a cylinder

Mine hand alſo hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath ſpanned the heauens: when I call vnto them, they ſtand vp together.

To generate an entire space by means of linear combinations.

To be matched, as horses.

A surname.