Dictionary

bestretched en · ADJ

Etymology

From *bestretch + -ed; or from be- + stretched.

Meanings

1. (in-compounds, often, rare) Stretched out or across; extended.
   • Australian beef and plates, the remnant of our sailors' last feed before they turned into their sail-covered oar-bestretched tent. 1890, Walter J. Clutterbuck, The Skipper in Arctic Seas:
   • It was impossible to exist in a dressed-up state after ten o'clock in the morning, and occasionally opened doors afforded brief glimpses of indefinite supplies of floor-bestretched beauty not adorned too much. 1864, Mrs. J.R. Beckwith, The Winthrops:
   • A passer-by, who wished to try the wit Of the three gazers, by a lucky hit, Thought of a question, took each man aside, As each his eyes and mouth bestretched so wide, That had they frozen stiff, as well they might, […] 1859, William Bentley Fowle, The Free Speaker:

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