Meaning

noun a large and unbroken expanse or distance

noun the act of physically reaching or thrusting out

noun a straightaway section of a racetrack

originFrom Middle English strecchen, from Old English streċċan (“to stretch, hold out, extend, spread out, prostrate”), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch, make taut or tight”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)treg-, *streg-, *treg- (“stiff, rigid”). Cognate with West Frisian strekke, Dutch strekken (“to stretch, straighten”), German strecken (“to stretch, straighten, elongate”), Danish…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0