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at a stretch
Idioms and Phrases
Also, at one stretch . At one time, during one period. For example, Working quickly, she hoped to finish all the drawings at a stretch . In contrast to the nearly synonymous at a sitting , this idiom, first recorded in 1774, does not imply being seated while engaging in a single continuous activity. Rather, it transfers the meaning of stretch as “a continuous length†to “a continuous time period.â€Example Sentences
I also hadn’t done my hearing any favors by working the graveyard shift at a nightclub during college—eight uninterrupted hours at a stretch of noise exposure that vastly exceeded safe levels.
I had chalked up the rapture of swimming for three, four, five uninterrupted hours at a stretch solely to the joy I have always felt being alone in a body of open water.
Citu also alleged that workers at the plant were being "pressurised to finish each product - like a refrigerator, washing machine, or TV - within 10-15 seconds", work non-stop for four to five hours at a stretch, and do their jobs in unsafe conditions.
The men stay on these positions, flying missions day and night, for up to five days at a stretch and spend as little time outside as possible.
The heat in northern and central India and parts of the west has been unrelenting for the past two weeks, with maximum temperatures hovering around 45-46C for days at a stretch and even climbing up to 50C in some areas.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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