the stem of SPAN v.1 and SPAN v.2, used in a number of special combs., chiefly of a technical character, as span-beam, -block, -dog, -gutter, -lashing, -piece, -saw [cf. Du. spanzaag, G. spannsäge, Sw. -såg], -shackle (see quots.); span-waist, a slender waist; span-wire, -worm U.S. (see quots.).
1847. Halliwell, *Span-beam, the great beam … in a barn.
1860. Eng. & For. Mining Gloss. (ed. 2), 23. Span beam, the horizontal beam passing over the whim in which the upper pivot of the perpendicular axis moves.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 230. Span-beam. A long wooden beam supporting the head pivot of the drum axle of a gin, and resting at the extremities upon inclined legs.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 23. Reeve it … through the *span block on the topmast cap.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 640. Span-blocks. Blocks seized into each bight of a strap, long enough to go across a cap, and allow the blocks to hang clear on each side. Ibid., 255. *Span-dogs. Used to lift timber. A pair of dogs linked together, and being hooked at an extended angle, press home with greater strain.
1841. Hartshorne, Salop. Ant., Gloss., *Span-gutter, a drain in a coal mine, formed by one brick being placed flat, and one at either end to keep the soil from falling in.
1891. Cent. Dict., *Span-lashing, a lashing used to secure together two ropes or spars a short distance apart.
1836. Parker, Gloss. Archit. (1850), I. 431. *Span-piece, the name given to the Collar-beam of a roof in Lincolnshire, Wiltshire, and other districts.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2253/2. *Span-saw, a frame-saw.
1750. Blanckley, Nav. Expos., 155. *Spanshakle is a large Clasp of Iron, which goes round the End of the Davit upon the Fore-Castle, having a large Bolt, which goes through a Fore-Castle Beam.
1846. A. Young, Naut. Dict., 290. Span-shackle. A large bolt with a triangular ring attached to it for lashing anchors or spars thereto.
1871. Figure-Training, 56. A fashionable *span waist ought not to exceed fourteen inches round.
1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 30 Oct., 6/2. The current … passes out to the main conductor, or overhead wire, which is supported over the centre of the track by insulators attached to *span wires extending from uprights placed on either side of the roadway.
1852. T. W. Harris, Treat. Ins. New Eng. (1862), 458. The caterpillars of the Geometræ of Linnæus,… or geometers, *span-worms, and loopers, have received these several names from their peculiar manner of moving.
1885. H. C. McCook, Tenants Old Farm, 104. A very familiar race of caterpillars, the Geometers, or span-worms.
