Background for spans

spans

/spænz/

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noun

The space from the thumb to the end of the little finger when extended; nine inches; an eighth of a fathom.

Examples :

"My outstretched hand spanned nine inches. "

body nautical space

Illustration spans - Image 1

noun

(by extension) A small space or a brief portion of time.

Examples :

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

time gap period

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noun

A portion of something by length; a subsequence.

Examples :

"The old wooden bridge was reinforced with steel spans to make it safer. "

part amount space time

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noun

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

Examples :

"The bridge's spans are so long that it takes several minutes to drive across. "

architecture building technical structure

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noun

The length of a cable, wire, rope, chain between two consecutive supports.

Examples :

"The electrician measured the spans of cable between each light fixture to ensure they were all equal. "

technical utility architecture building structure

Illustration spans - Image 1

noun

A rope having its ends made fast so that a purchase can be hooked to the bight; also, a rope made fast in the center so that both ends can be used.

Examples :

"The carpenter used the rope spans to lift the heavy beam. "

nautical sailing

Illustration spans - Image 1

noun

A pair of horses or other animals driven together; usually, such a pair of horses when similar in color, form, and action.

Examples :

"The farmer hitched two horses, a matching span of chestnut geldings, to the plow. "

animal vehicle agriculture

Illustration spans - Image 1

noun

The space of all linear combinations of something.

Examples :

""The spans of two vectors can create an entire plane, allowing you to reach any point within it." "

Illustration spans - Image 1

noun

The time required to execute a parallel algorithm on an infinite number of processors, i.e. the shortest distance across a directed acyclic graph representing the computation steps.

Examples :

"The spans of the project's dependencies, when optimized for maximum parallelism, revealed that the quickest possible completion time was only two days. "

computing math technical time process structure

Illustration spans - Image 1

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verb

To extend through the distance between or across.

Examples :

"The suspension bridge spanned the canyon."

area geography space

Illustration spans - Image 1

verb

To extend through (a time period).

Examples :

"The novel spans three centuries."

time period history

Illustration spans - Image 1

verb

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

Examples :

"to span a space or distance; to span a cylinder"

Illustration spans - Image 1

verb

To generate an entire space by means of linear combinations.

Examples :

"The two vectors, (1,0) and (0,1), spans the entire 2D plane, meaning any point on the plane can be reached by adding scaled versions of those two vectors. "

Illustration spans - Image 1

verb

To be matched, as horses.

Examples :

"The farmer ensured the two horses that pulled the plow spans each other, with equal height and strength, for efficient work. "

Illustration spans - Image 1

verb

To fetter, as a horse; to hobble.

Examples :

"The rancher spans the horse's front legs to prevent it from running away too far while grazing. "

animal agriculture