What is span?

Famous quotes containing the word span:

“The last bear, shot drinking in the Dakotas
Loped under wires that span the mountain stream.”
—Hart Crane (1899–1932)

“To course that span of consciousness thou’st named
The Open Road—thy vision is reclaimed!
What heritage thou’st signalled to our hands!”
—Hart Crane (1899–1932)

“School-days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. They are full of dull, unintelligible tasks, new and unpleasant ordinances, brutal violations of common sense and common decency. It doesn’t take a reasonably bright boy long to discover that most of what is rammed into him is nonsense, and that no one really cares very much whether he learns it or not.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)