span : Idioms & Phrases

• noun the length of time you can concentrate on some idea or activity
  

WordNet

• (Naut.), blocks at the topmast and topgallant-mast heads, for the studding-sail halyards.

Webster 1913

• an old English child's game, in which one throws a counter on the ground, and another tries to hit it with his counter, or to get his counter so near it that he can span the space between them, and touch both the counters. Halliwell. "Henry V., in whose time boys went to span counter for French crowns." Shak.

Webster 1913

• (Naut.), a special kind of harpoon, usually secured just below the gunwale of a whaleboat.

Webster 1913

• noun the ratio of the weight of an airplane to its wingspan
  

WordNet

• a common roof, having two slopes and one ridge, with eaves on both sides. Gwilt.

Webster 1913

• (Naut.), a large bolt driven through the forecastle deck, with a triangular shackle in the head to receive the heel of the old-fashioned fish davit. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

Webster 1913

Span"-new` adjective

Etymology

Icel. spannr, properly, new as a ship just split; spann chip + nr new. See Spoon, and New.

Definitions

1. Quite new; brand-new; fire-new. "A span-new archbishop's chair." Fuller.

Webster 1913

• adjective satellite conspicuously new
  brand-new; bran-new; spic-and-span.
  
  • shiny brand-new shoes
  • a spick-and-span novelty
• adjective satellite completely neat and clean
  spick; speckless; spic-and-span; spic; spotless; immaculate.
  
  • the apartment was immaculate
  • in her immaculate white uniform
  • a spick-and-span kitchen
  • their spic red-visored caps

WordNet

• quite new; that is, as new as a spike or nail just made and a chip just split; brand-new; as, a spick and span novelty. See Span-new.

Webster 1913

• adjective satellite conspicuously new
  brand-new; bran-new; spic-and-span.
  
  • shiny brand-new shoes
  • a spick-and-span novelty
• adjective satellite completely neat and clean
  spick; speckless; spic-and-span; spic; spotless; immaculate.
  
  • the apartment was immaculate
  • in her immaculate white uniform
  • a spick-and-span kitchen
  • their spic red-visored caps

WordNet