From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishspanspan1 /spæn/ x-refa past tense of spin1spanspan2 noun [countable] 1 PERIOD OF TIMEa period of time between two dates or eventsover/within/in a span of something 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 CONTINUE/NOT STOPthe length of time over which someone’s life, ability to pay attention to something etc continuesattention/concentration span Most two-year-olds have a very short attention span. Captivity vastly reduces the life span of whales.3 AALONGthe part of a bridge, arch etc that goes across from one support to another4 LONGthe distance from one side of something to the other a bird with a large wing span
Examples from the Corpus
span• In February, they play 14 games, including seven in a span of 11 nights, all on the road.• It has 9 arches with above-average spans of 58 feet.• Organisation One of the problems often associated with working with young children is their apparently short concentration span.• In her mind, the reengineering decision granted her a well-deserved promotion and greater span of control.• Logitech predicts a life span of between six months and a year.Overall, I liked the MouseMan Cordless very much.• Any investigation which covers a long span of time is bound to encounter certain special problems.• Bridge police say they drive about 2,000 bridge phobics over the spans each year.• During a fifty-year span, Baldwin produced close to ninety novels.time span• Historical records extend only a few thousand years, a time span that is still inadequate to treat slow geologic processes.• All those decisions can often occur within a five-minute entrepreneurial time span.• We shall not make any comments about this until we have had a chance to inspect a longer time span.• Development of all major new weapons programmes would nevertheless continue but over a longer time span.• In other words, lots of concurrent partners in the briefest possible time span will equal the greatest chance of epidemic spread.• I call this measure the responsibility time span of the role.• Thus the bulk of Laurentia came together in the relatively short time span of 150 million years.• Statistically this loss rate is low seen in the perspective of the number of flying Spitfires over this time span.life span• The company mixes engine oils, also shortening engines life spans.• With a longer life span, a lot of people are just becoming too frail to take care of themselves.• He points out that an animal's life span is linked to its metabolic rate.• Anencephalus, for example, has no life expectancy beyond a few weeks, and even this short life span is rare.• So too is ego, the life span of which, as seen, is but a wink...• It is generally accepted that the life span of the traditional flat felt roof is about 10 years.• There is little information on their life span in the wild -- perhaps leeches are difficult to track.• They typically roam a territory of several acres, with life spans similar to humans.spanspan3 verb (spanned, spanning) [transitive] 1 INCLUDEto include all of a period of time a career which spanned nearly 60 years2 INCLUDEto include all of a particular space or area The Mongol Empire spanned much of Central Asia.3 TBCLONGif a bridge spans an area of water, especially a river, it goes from one side to the other→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
span• Cecil Pickett's teaching career spanned 33 years.• The columns carried hefty ceiling or roof beams, sometimes spanning 5 metres, but usually less.• Mason Pearson's unsurpassed reputation for true value combined with the very highest standards in hair care now spans a whole century.• In a career spanning four decades, Brewster had many legal triumphs.• A key feature is the system's automatic two-phase commit support for distributed transactions spanning multiple heterogeneous databases that support two-phase commit.• Moreover, the proposed business units would span several establishments and would not lend themselves easily to rapid consolidation.• Some researchers believe the topography may even approach a Himalayan scale, spanning several miles from peak to trough.• "Heimat' is a vivid social drama spanning sixty years in the life of one small village.• It took a full forty-eight hours to span the continent from New York to Los Angeles.career ... spanned• Norman Schwarzkopf's army career spanned 35 years.Origin span2 Old English spann 