stretch, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

stretch v.

1. to hang, to be hanged; thus stretcher n., a hangman [abbr. SE stretch one’s neck].

1566		G. Gascoigne (trans.) Supposes IV ii: A rope stretch you, marry [...] Thou wilt be hanged, I warrant thee.
1595		‘W.S.’ Lamentable Tragedie of Locrine II ii: Here good fellow take it at my command, Vnlesse you meane to be stretcht.
1607		Rowlands Humours Ordinarie G: Or else heele haue it with a fiue and a reach, Although it cost his necke the Halter stretch.
1613		Beaumont & Fletcher Coxcomb V i: Either of which, if I can catch, shall stretch for ’t.
1622		J. Mabbe (trans.) Life of Guzman Pt I Bk I 7: I would willingly indure thy taunts [...] though my owne father should stretch for it, and giue the Gallowes it’s first handsell.
1649		F. Quarles Virgin Widow V i: A halter stretch ye.
1654		Witts Recreations Epigram No. 167: Cacus in’s cunning ne’r so prov’d o’r-reacht As now at last, who must be halter-stretcht.
1690		‘The Golden Farmer’s Last Farewell’ in Ebsworth Bagford Ballads (1878) I 244: A most notorious Wretch, / I many years have been, / For which I now at length must stretch, / A just Reward for Sin.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: He’ll Stretch for it, he’ll be Hang’d.
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy V 69: Then Lutener’s-lane a gay Couple did bring, / Two better, I think, was ne’er stretch’d in hemp-string.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1738		Swift Polite Conversation 29: (Colonel stretching himself.) lady sm.: Why, Colonel, you break the King’s Laws, you stretch without a Halter.
1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 527: Bold rogues as ever stretch’d a string.
1788		in Irish Songster [song title] De Night before Larry was Stretch’d.
c.1790		‘Larry’s Stiff’ Luke Caffrey’s Gost 6: As soon as poor Larry was stretche’d, / De boys de soon cut him down proper.
1816		‘Newgate Melody’ in Morn. Post 17 Apr. 3/4: The Jury and the judge, oh Jack Ketch! / Have agreed that Tim Higgins must stretch.
1838		‘James O’Bryan, the Informer’ in Croker Memoirs of Joseph Holt I 311: Oh! de night before Jemmy was stretch’d, / De spies de all ped him a visit.
1842		S. Lover Handy Andy 293: ‘The Night before Larry was stretched,’ was done by a bishop, they say.
1862		E. de la Bédollière Londres et les Anglais 318/1: stretch, He’ll stretch for it, il sera pendu pour cela.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 248: STRETCH, abbreviation of ‘stretch one’s neck,’ to hang.
1869		Australasian (Melbourne) 17 July 8/5: [T]o to be hanged is to be topped, tucked up, turned up, stretched.
1886		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 16 Oct. 7/1: The mob outside greeted the prisoner with cries of ‘Hang him!’ ‘Stretch him up’.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 82: Stretched, hanged.
1891		F.W. Carew Autobiog. of a Gipsey 198: You old, smuggling horse-thief, you’ve put the double on me often enough, but I’ll stretch you for this job.
1907		J.M. Synge Playboy of the Western World Act III: shawn: Come on to the peelers till they stretch you now. / christy: Me! / michael: ...you’d best come easy, for hanging is an easy and a speedy end.
1929		D. Hammett Red Harvest (1965) 33: If what the Willsson dame gives us ain’t enough to stretch him, I’m a pickpocket.
1932		Z. Grey Robbers’ Roost 231: Hays, that’s your last morning’s stretch . . . Before this day’s done you’ll stretch forever!
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Stretcher, the hangman (prison).
1940		‘Flann O’Brien’ Third Policeman (1974) 85: ‘There is no option but to stretch you for the serious offence.’ ‘Stretch me?’ ‘Hang you by the windpipe before high breakfast time.’.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 213/2: Stretch, v. [...] 2. To hang; to lynch.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 820: stretch – To hang a person.

2. to lie.

1862

E. de la Bédollière Londres et les Anglais 318/1: stretch, [...] se dit aussi pour mentir. He stretched stoutly, il a fameusement menti.

3. (also stretch out) to knock down, to kill [SE stretch (someone) out on the ground].

1855		W.G. Simms Forayers 195: Benny Bowlegs [...] has already knocked over half a dozen more, and I have stretched out as many.
1875		Rockhampton Bull. (Qld) 2 Oct. 2/6: Tierney got an axe [...] and struck the women with it so violently as to cut her nose, black both eyes, and ‘stretch’ her o the ground.
1874		‘Old Calabar’ Won in a Canter I 159: ‘[T]hey stretched poor O’Callahan [...] yesterday in broad day-light in the bog, and l’m on the jury’.
1888		W.B. Churchward Blackbirding In The South Pacific 35: If a man got stretched in a grog shop, the ‘boss’ would only throw him out into the road, whether dead or alive.
1889		Kipling ‘The Shawdow of His Hand’ in Civil & Military Gaz. 2 Aug. (1909) 42: Lot stretched him.
1890		Kipling ‘The Big Drunk Draf’’ in Soldiers Three (1907) 35: Wid that I stretched Peg Barney, boot an’ all, an’ wint into the camp.
1897		A.H. Lewis Wolfville 55: This yere second Mexican is downed on the run-in [...] Enright, who’s close in, jumps some lead into him an’ stretches him.
1900		G.R. Sims In London’s Heart 294: If it hadn’t been for this hound I’d have stretched one of you out.
1925		Black Mask Aug. III 14: I’ll stretch you as cold as an old maid’s stare.
1931		O. Strange Law O’ The Lariat 158: If the yarns about him is true, he come mighty near bein’ stretched once or twice, an’ his luck can’ last for ever.
1955		‘Hal Ellson’ Rock 80: A fight busts out between two more of the boys [...] One gets stretched.
1955		D. Niland Shiralee 19: He [...] picked a fight, stretched out his man, and he felt a lot better.
2018-20		T. Thorne (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Stretched, stretchin’ - felled by an attack.

4. of a man, to have sexual intercourse [? link to stretch leather under leather n.].

1962

(con. 1940s) G. Mandel Wax Boom 72: How many of you stretched that back-road stuff?

5. see stretch (it)

6. (US drugs) to adulterate and extend the volume of heroin or cocaine with baking soda, etc.

1971		R. Woodley Dealer 37: ‘With scag you use something like milk sugar to stretch it’.
1973		R. Daley Target Blue 462: One ounce equals about 440 grains. Pure heroin can be hit nine times, scrambled, mixed with milk sugar and stretched [...] one ounce of pure heroin can be stretched to about 4000 grains.
2004		T.I. ‘Trap Muzik’ 🎵 Keep the coke stretched out Like Carl Lewis' hamstrings / Stepped on like I'm working / With the dance team / Triple beam ain't seen / What I do to a ounce of blow.

7. (US drugs) to fill a vial of crack cocaine.

2006

Burns & Price ‘Corner Boys’ Wire ser. 4 ep. 8 [TV script] I’m stretchin’ bottles, mom.

In phrases

stretch someone’s neck (v.)

to hang; thus neck-stretching n. and adj., hanging; get one’s neck stretched v., to be hanged.

1862		J.R. Lowell Biglow Papers 2nd series (1880) 10: This world is awfle contrary: the rope may stretch your neck.
1868		Sportsman 24 Oct. 4/1: Notes on News [...] They’ll stretch my neck for my cha-ri-tee, / Hon the new drop at the Hold Bai-lee!
1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 248: STRETCH, abbreviation of ‘stretch one’s neck,’ to hang.
1872		Chicago Times in Asbury Gangs of Chicago (1940) 91: Nearly a hundred murders since 1865 and not a single neck stretched!
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 2 May 22/4: We strongly object to an altogether unnecessary neck-stretching staff being kept up by the country at a cost of £270 per annum and ‘extras.’.
1897		A.H. Lewis Wolfville 216: Either he’s out to throw this party loose, or stretch his neck.
1929		W.R. Burnett Little Caesar (1932) 120: You better keep your head working [...] or you’ll get your neck stretched.
1935		D. Lamson We Who Are About to Die 153: You’d think he was the [...] first innocent man in history to get his God-damned neck stretched.
1940		O. Strange Sudden Takes the Trail 94: If he promises to stretch a fella’s neck he’ll do it, regardless.
1954		(con. 1941) C. Chessman Cell 2455 227: I’d probably get my neck stretched for treason.
1959		‘Ed McBain’ Killer’s Wedge (1981) 123: I don’t want to see my neck stretched for something somebody else did.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 40: Bland was lucky not to have had his neck stretched - but the man he shot dead, Robert Case, was so unpopular [...] that Bland’s plea for leniency was upheld.

stretch (the) hemp (v.) (also pull hemp, stretch a line) [the hempen noose]

to be hanged or to hang oneself.

1532		T. More Confutation of Tyndale Answer VIII Pt II 788: Nor fereth to mocke the sacrament the blessed body of god, & full lyke a stretche hempe, call it but cake brede or starche.
1849		Hereford Times 5 May 6/5: California Slang.—When they hang fellow to a tree among the diggings, they say, ‘he pulls hemp’.
1856		Baltimore Sun (MD) 2 Apr. 1/4: ‘I would rather step right out and pull hemp’ [...] I had rather be hung than go to prison for life.
c.1858		J.H. Green Secret Band of Brothers 46: Yes, he is the very villain. I know enough about him to make him stretch hemp, if he had his dues.
1864		‘Edmund Kirke’ Down in Tennessee 86: He’s afeard o’ pullin’ hemp, an’ kingdom come.
1877		Northampton Mercury 28 July 7/5: Nothing has equalled for excitement and style the ‘necktie sociable’ when eleven unfortunates ‘pulled hemp’.
1879		Lexington Intelligencer (MO) 11 Oct. 2/7: There is little doubt they will find him, and when they do, woe unto Jim Hill, for he will pull hemp, sure as life.
1884		St Paul Globe (MN) 28 Nov. 4/5: Glen will beyond all question ‘pull hemp’ either by course of law or mob violence.
1885		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 12 Dec. 2/2: Eight of Riel’s Indian allies have been hung [...] It is nothing but just that they should stretch hemp.
1893		Wkly Times Democrat (New Orleans, LA) 20 Oct. 9/3: He will be captured [and] he will certainly pull hemp.
1901		Wkly Advertiser (Montgomery, AL) 1 Mar. 2/4: We agree [...] that it is anout time some white men should be found guilty [...] and allowed to pull hemp.
1929		A.J. Barr Let Tomorrow Come 82: They oughta make you stretch a line like this bird Little.
1934		O. Strange Sudden 30: If we had a marshal worth a busted nickel, yu’d be stretchin’ hemp right now.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 213/2: Stretch hemp. To pay extreme penalty by hanging.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

stretch one (n.)

(US) a large glass of Coca-Cola.

1931

O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 12 May [synd. col.] Large coca cola—stretch one.

In phrases

stretch a pipe (v.)

see under pipes n.¹

stretch (it) (v.) [SE stretch the truth]

1. to exaggerate, to lie; thus stretching n., lying.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: He Stretcht hard, told a whisking Ly.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: stretching. [...] telling a great lie: he stretched stoutly.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1879		H. Hartigan Stray Leaves (2nd ser.) 290: ‘You may laugh,” said the old man, “and think I'm stretching; but you may rest assured ’tis a fact’.
1908		G. Seagram Bushman All 274: Don’t be stretching it, Charlie; sure it’s only three.

2. (US) to run fast.

1843

Gleaner (Manchester, NH) 13 May n.p.: With his boots in his hands and bear-headed [sic] he ‘streached it’ down Factory Street [...] much to the merriment of the company.

3. (US) of money, make it last.

1943

W.R. Burnett Nobody Lives for Ever 39: [T]aking a ten-dollar bill out of his pocket he put it on the table. ‘Stretch it. It’s my own dough, and I may never get it back’.

stretch out (v.) [jazz use stretch out, to play to one’s limits, with no restraints other than one’s stamina and skill]

1. (US black) to live one’s life without restraint, to act uninhibitedly.

1968

N. Heard Howard Street 243: Then I’m gon’ really stretch out tough [...] I’ma have me a Cadillac in no time.

2. see sense 3 above.

stretch some jeans (v.) [the removal of one’s jeans or trousers]

(US prison, esp. homosexual) to have sexual intercourse.

1989–99

R.O. Scott Gay Sl. Dict. 🌐 stretch some jeans: [prison sl.] To do the sex act.

stretch someone’s breeches (v.) [the bent-over buttocks tighten the cloth that covers them]

to administer a thrashing.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 235/1: Stretch his breeches (Peoples’). Said of a boy who has been thrashed. It comes down from the time when the tight leather breech might be fairly said to be stretched when flattened.