span

span¹ [spæn]

a past tense of ↑spin

span ²

span² n

[: Old English; Origin: spann]

1.) a period of time between two dates or events

over/within/in a span of sth

▪ Over a span of ten years, the company has made great progress.

▪ It'll be difficult to hire that many new staff in such a short time span.

2.) the length of time over which someone's life, ability to pay attention to something etc continues

attention/concentration span

▪ Most 2-year-olds have a very short attention span .

▪ Captivity vastly reduces the life span of whales.

3.) the part of a bridge, ↑arch etc that goes across from one support to another

4.) the distance from one side of something to the other

▪ a bird with a large wing span

span ³

span³ past tense and past participle spanned present participle spanning

v [T]

1.) to include all of a period of time

▪ a career which spanned nearly 60 years

2.) to include all of a particular space or area

▪ The Mongol Empire spanned much of Central Asia.

3.) if a bridge spans an area of water, especially a river, it goes from one side to the other