span
Word family adjectivespanlessnounspan
span2 noun [countableC] 1 PERIOD OF TIMEa period of time between two dates or events 〔两个日期或事件之间的〕时距,期间over/within/in a span of something Over a span of ten years, the company has made great progress. 在十年时间里,这家公司取得了很大进展。
It’ll be difficult to hire that many new staff in such a short time span. 在这么短的时间里要想招聘到那么多新员工是很难的。
2 CONTINUE/NOT STOPthe length of time over which someone’s life, ability to pay attention to something etc continues 〔生命、注意力等的〕持续时间attention/concentration span Most two-year-olds have a very short attention span. 大部分两岁孩子的注意力持续时间都很短。
Captivity vastly reduces the life span of whales. 捕获饲养会大大缩短鲸的寿命。
3. AALONGthe part of a bridge, arch etc that goes across from one support to another 〔桥梁、拱门等的〕跨距,墩距 4 LONGthe distance from one side of something to the other 〔从一端到另一端的〕全长 a bird with a large wing span 一只翼展宽大的鸟
span3 verb (spanned, spanning) [transitiveT] 1 INCLUDEto include all of a period of time 〔时间〕持续,贯穿 a career which spanned nearly 60 years 持续了差不多 60 年的职业生涯
2 INCLUDEto include all of a particular space or area 〔空间或地域〕跨越,包括 The Mongol Empire spanned much of Central Asia. 蒙古帝国跨越中亚的许多地区。
3. TBCLONGif a bridge spans an area of water, especially a river, it goes from one side to the other 〔桥梁〕跨越,横跨〔水面〕 career ... spanned• Norman Schwarzkopf's army career spanned 35 years. Origin span2 Old English spann