stretch, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

stretch n.

1. a yard (3ft/91cm).

1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: stretch. A yard. The cove was lagged for prigging a peter with several stretch of dobbin from a drag; the fellow was transported for stealing a trunk, containing several yards of ribband, from a waggon.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 272: Five or ten stretch, signifies five or ten yards, &c.; so in dealing for any article, as linen, &c., I will give you three hog a stretch, means, I’ll give three shillings a yard.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

2. in prison/Und. uses [abbr. SE stretch of time].

(a) a twelve-month sentence; thus two stretch, two years; three stretch, three years etc; cit. 1869 defining it as ‘a three year sentence’ is presumably a misinterpretation.

1821		D. Haggart Autobiog. 80: Poor Barney got a free passage to Botany Bay for fourteen stretch.
1859		‘Hundred Stretches Hence’ in Matsell Vocabulum 124: Played out their lay, it will be said / A hundred stretches hence.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 107/1: We ‘dun’ a ‘bit’ in wun ov theeir blarsted ’oyle’s, an’ I’ll goa tu ’ell iv I wudn’t du a ‘stretch’ in wun ov our English ‘sturs’ sooner thaus dur a ‘drag’ in a starvin’, louzy, an’ itchy Scotch prison! [Ibid.] 148/2: Poor fool, ’e’s gotten fifteen ‘stretch’.
1869		J. Greenwood Seven Curses of London 88: Three years’ imprisonment – a stretch.
1869		Australasian (Melbourne) 17 July 8/5: To be sentenced .to seven years is to do seven stretch .
1879		‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ in Macmillan’s Mag. (London) XL 503: About two moon after this the same fence fell for buying two finns (£5 notes), for which he got a stretch and a half.
1885		M. Davitt Leaves from a Prison Diary I 24: He had announced himself as having got seven ‘stretch’ (years) for clearing out a jeweller’s shop in Manchester.
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 16 Nov. 4/3: I’ve done a few stretch for things I bin accused of innercent.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 24 Feb. 3/4: And you shall have weight in your sentences of ‘drags’, / Of ‘drags’ and of ‘stretches’.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 12 May 5/4: I did four stretch in Pentridge for robbery at Melbourne.
1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 235: He was ‘doin’ three stretch for stoppin’ a kid in the street an’ takin’ its school money away’.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 28 Sept. 3/6: ‘Lucky I didn’t strike seven stretch’.
1906		O.C. Malvery Soul Market 141: ‘I thought he got a two stretch.’ ‘So he did,’ said Mrs. Rummings; ‘but they knocked six months orf ’cos of ’is good behaviour.’.
1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 16 Sept. 4/7: They gimme a stretch at Pentridge.
1907		Proc. Old Bailey 8 Jan. 327: I arrested prisoner at a lodging-house in Tooley Street. He said, ‘Who the b——h—has put me away; I suppose that old cow who lives with my father; I suppose I shall get three stretch for this; I don't care’.
1909		‘The Lang. of Crooks’ in Wash. Post 20 June 4/1: [paraphrasing J. Sullivan] A stretch [is] a term of one year.
1915		C.J. Dennis ‘A Spring Song’ in Songs of a Sentimental Bloke 15: Me, that ’as done me stretch fer stoushin’ Johns, / An’ spen’s me leisure gittin’ on the shick.
1926		N. Lucas London and its Criminals 22: ‘Izzy’ had ‘gone down’ for a ‘stretch’ (twelve months).
1939		V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 164: Mosher is doing seven stretch and I’m doing five.
1943		M. Harrison Reported Safe Arrival 19: I done a two-stretch. ’Tworn’t so dusty. Considerin’...
1950		A. Gurney Bluey & Curley 11 Jan. [synd. cartoon] I’ve just done a six months stretch for lifting a few towels.
1955		B. Hill Boss of Britain’s Underworld 67: They sent me to Chelmsford pdorison [...] I had a four stretch ahead of me.
1956		‘Charles Raven’ Und. Nights 170: Bob Day, who had bought one groin too many and was doing a two stretch.
1958		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 65: The server is doing a five stretch for rape.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 24: We’d never grass on each other [...] not for a ten-stretch.
1970		T. Parker Frying-Pan 45: I’d go on a job knowing it’d be a ten-stretch if we were caught.
1984		B. Ellem Doing Time 198: stretch: a prison sentence.
1989		(con. 1950s–60s) in G. Tremlett Little Legs 197: stretch 12 months’ imprisonment.
1996		P. Howard The Joy (2015) [ebook] Sure, he’s only after starting a seven-stretch for half-killing some bus driver.
1999		Indep. Information 28 Aug.–3 Sept. 39: Having been stitched-up for a three-year stretch.
2005		P. Howard Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 57: Hennessy is looking down the barrel of a ten-stretch.
2012		D. Whish-Wilson ‘In Savage Freedom’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] He made sure I went inside, for the five stretch.

(b) (also stretcher) a sentence of undetermined length.

1857		‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue 21: Stretch, hard labour, in prison.
1880		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 10 Jan. 3/3: He was sent up for several years [...] During Webster’s absence from Chicago on the ‘stretch’ [etc].
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Feb. 7/3: Lady Westbury […] was lately robbed of the ‘knee-apron’ of her carriage. She treated the perpetrators of this outrage to a ‘stretch’ in Millbank.
1893		P.H. Emerson Signor Lippo 27: I should stand a good chance of being buckled and getting a stretch.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 29 July 4/5: I’ll do this stretch upon my head.
1900		Flynt & Walton Powers That Prey 190: Some of them were culprits of long standing, men who had taken their ‘stretchers,’ as they called their terms in prison, regularly and without flinching.
1901		(ref. to 1867) ‘Rolf Boldrewood’ In Bad Company 489: You’ll get a term of imprisonment of course. ‘A long ‘stretch,’ I expect,’ he said.
1904		Marvel 12 Nov. 1: Some accomplice who had been tripped up and sent for a stretch to Portland.
1910		Wash. Post 3 July 3/1: Yer right, red [...] A little stretch up at Copper John’s is the only thing fer Hoppy’s habit.
1914		Truth (Melbourne) 21 Feb. 12/6: When him and his frowsy mother / Got a stretch apiece dear Sir.
1920		C.S. Montanye ‘Perfect Crime’ in Penzler Pulp Fiction (2007) 351: He was doing a stretch in a band-house in Joplin for a job in Chi.
1932		J. Dixon Free To Love 179: He’s done two stretches up the river. He’s jail-shy.
1932		New Call (Perth, WA) 7 Apr. 3/4: A bird that has only Just escaped from his ‘cage’ after doing a ‘stretch’.
1942		N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 8: I couldn’t stand another stretch.
1944		Sun (Sydney) 10 Nov. 2/1: The old lag smiled. ‘Oh, if they’ve got more’n two on you it don’t matter how many. You can only get two stretches cumulative’.
1952		Aberdeen Eve. Express 20 Dec. 5/6: Their heroes are the older boys who have ‘done a stretch’, maybe for a ‘lorry job’ or for ‘blagging’ which is robbery with violence.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 213: He’ll get a real stretch for that.
1965		F.J. Hardy Yarns of Billy Borker 61: They’d get a long stretch for a charge like that.
1972		P. Fordham Inside the Und. 68: It don’t make sense to get the sort of stretch they gave Jack.
1981		T. Wilkinson Down and Out 132: Oh, I’ve been doing a fair old stretch [...] I’ve been away for quite a time.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 99: Dot Rothstein knew a colored girl doing a stretch at Juvenile Hall.
1999		D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 36: stretch n. Sentence, time serving in prison.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 180/1: stretch n. a prison sentence (usually a long one).
2005		L. Theroux Call of the Weird (2006) 55: ‘How long a stretch are you facing?’ I asked. ‘Fifty years.’.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] He was at the end of a six-year stretch.
2014		M. McBride Swollen Red Sun 105: She hadn’t left the hill in twenty years, not even when Butch did his stretch.
2014		T. Black Artefacts of the Dead [ebook] ‘Took a chiv in the back in Peterhead, I see . . .’ ‘Yeah [...] He did the rest of his stretch in isolation’.
2016		D. Whish-Wilson Old Scores [ebook] [A] facsimile mugshot of himself, taken from his last stretch in Pentridge.
2021		T. Pluck Boy from County Hell 164: Chopper knew how violent ex-cons thought. You did not get between them and a stretch without your weapon drawn.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 619: ‘[B]enefittin’ your stretch... benefitt... befittin’ a Captain Baron... extendin’ your ‘ealth prospects’.

1879		‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ Macmillan’s Mag. XL (London) 502: I went on like this for very nearly a stretch (year) without being smugged (apprehended).
1881		Dundee Courier (Scot.) 12 Apr. 7/3: I’ve been out of London more’n a stretch.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 14 Jan. 6/6: Strike me fat, if I ever go back to the old life if they let this joint alone for another stretch (i.e. a year).
1904		Sun (NY) 10 July 29/4: Here is a genuine letter written in thieves’ slang, recently found by the English police [...] I met an old flame [...] that I thought was put to bed with a spade and shovel stretches ago.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 40: I stars seeing this bird cvalled Eve, about three stretch ago.

(d) (N.Z. prison) a period of solitary confinement.

1953

I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 63: If you’re doing a longer stretch than three days, you’re supposed to have a break [...] on No. 2 ration.

3. a march, a long journey.

1606		P. Holland (trans.) Suetonius’s Historie of Twelve Caesars (1899) I 270: [H]is hastie and long journey (for it was a good stretch from Astura to Beneventum) was contrarie to his wonted manner.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 248: STRETCH, a walk, — University.
1873		Sl. Dict.

4. (US) a general term of address, usu. to a tall thin person.

[1971		(con. 1930s–50s) D. Wells Night People 118: Stretch, adj. Tall].
1995		G. Pelecanos Down by the River 89: Eddie turned to LaDuke. ‘Take care of yourself, Stretch’.
1996		(con. 1948) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 115: Is that what you want, stretch? You wanna go a few with Danny Auerbach?

5. (US) a period of enlistment in the armed forces.

1942		Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 6 June 20/1: Malcolm Fulcher is doing his stretch for the red, white and blue at Camp Lee, Va.
1956		‘James Updyke’ [W.R. Burnett] It’s Always Four O’Clock 11: ‘Where did you do your stretch?’ ‘I told them I was a fag,’ said Royal.
1981		A.K. Shulman On the Stroll 82: She knew only that [...] he’d grown up in the toughest slums of DC, and that he’d served a stretch in the navy.

6. (Aus.) sexual intercourse, thus have a stretch / stretch a woman, to have sexual intercourse.

c.1943

S.J. Baker Aus. Vulgarisms [t/s] 13: stretch, have a: To coit (with a woman). Whence, a stretch, an act of coition; also to stretch a woman, to coit with her.

7. a long time.

1958

F. Norman in Sun. Graphic 10 Aug. in Norman’s London (1969) 25: It is quite a stretch since the last time I went to Southend.

8. (also stretchy) a stretch limousine.

1986		J. Ellroy Suicide Hill 217: [A] Mercedes stretch limo pulled up in front of Anne, and she got in. The stretch hung an immediate right turn.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 371: The stretch was great value for money. It took the whole mob comfortably and worked out less expensive than two cabs from LAX.
2000		M. Manning Get Your Cock Out 28: The Leather Cowboys were vomited into the pavement from the stretch.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers [24]: Despite us leaving Edinburgh early, the ‘stretchy’ is crawling along the M8.

In phrases

half a stretch (n.) (also half stretch)

(UK Und.) six months’ imprisonment; also used by criminals for any period of six months.

1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1867		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 14 Sept. n.p.: She was requested to give security to keep the peace ‘half a stretch’.
1869		J. Greenwood Seven Curses of London 88: Half stretch – six months.
1886		W. Newton Secrets of Tramp Life Revealed 8: Half a Stretch ... Six Months’ Imprisonment.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 5: Half a stretch - Six months in prison.
1891		J. Bent Criminal Life 272: Done for half a stretch ... Six months.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 34: Half a Stretch, six months’ imprisonment.
1910		Sporting Times 8 Jan. 10/1: There is a member of the ear-biting fraternity who is everlastingly eloquent anent the ‘half-stretch’ served out to him in his sinful youth as a punishment for the snapping up of certain ‘unconsidered trifles’.
1929		(con. 1910) C.G. Gordon Crooks of the Und. 222: Nice showing up you’d get wiv yer fam’ly, and us only been married half a stretch.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 5: Half a stretch: Six months imprisonment.
1938		G. Kersh Night and the City 175: They lumber him and give him half a stretch.
1958		F. Norman in Bristol Eve. Post 27 Nov. in Norman’s London (1969) 43: I got nicked for doing a screwer and got half a stretch.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
1995		M. Amis Information 9: ‘You know: half a stretch.’ Nothing — a mere nothing.

hit the stretch (v.)

(US tramp) to go travelling.

1915

Morn. Tulsa Dly World (OK) 13 June 19/2: Hit the stretch — Out on the road.

in the stretch [horseracing term the stretch, the last part of the course]

almost complete, near the end.

2002

C. DuBos ‘Politics’ Gambit Weekly 26 Feb. 🌐 If Pennington does indeed have control over his campaign, it comes at a good time for him. He’ll need to press Nagin on all corners now that the two men are in the stretch — and even then, it’ll take an upset of Olympic proportions for him to win.

on the full stretch

to extremes, e.g. in spending money.

1827

Pierce Egan’s Life in London 24 June 998/2: [A] near relation of her's, who lived ‘upon the full stretch’ and died much in the same fashion, afforded her a useful lesson ;she is as penurious as her former relative was prodigal.