home stretch

Home \Home\, a.
   1. Of or pertaining to one's dwelling or country; domestic;
      not foreign; as home manufactures; home comforts.
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   2. Close; personal; pointed; as, a home thrust.
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   3. (Games) In various games, the ultimate point aimed at in a
      progress; goal; as:
      (a) (Baseball) The plate at which the batter stands; same
          as {home base} and {home plate}.
      (b) (Lacrosse) The place of a player in front of an
          opponent's goal; also, the player.
          [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   {Home base} or {Home plate} (Baseball), the base at which the
      batter stands when batting, and which is the last base to
      be reached in scoring a run.

   {Home farm}, {grounds}, etc., the farm, grounds, etc.,
      adjacent to the residence of the owner.

   {Home lot}, an inclosed plot on which the owner's home
      stands. [U. S.]

   {Home rule}, rule or government of an appendent or dependent
      country, as to all local and internal legislation, by
      means of a governing power vested in the people within the
      country itself, in contradistinction to a government
      established by the dominant country; as, home rule in
      Ireland. Also used adjectively; as, home-rule members of
      Parliament.

   {Home ruler}, one who favors or advocates home rule.

   {Home stretch} (Sport.), that part of a race course between
      the last curve and the winning post.

   {Home thrust}, a well directed or effective thrust; one that
      wounds in a vital part; hence, in controversy, a personal
      attack.
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Stretch \Stretch\, n.
   1. Act of stretching, or state of being stretched; reach;
      effort; struggle; strain; as, a stretch of the limbs; a
      stretch of the imagination.
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            By stretch of arms the distant shore to gain.
                                                  --Dryden.
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            Those put a lawful authority upon the stretch, to
            the abuse of yower, under the color of prerogative.
                                                  --L'Estrange.
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   2. A continuous line or surface; a continuous space of time;
      as, grassy stretches of land.
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            A great stretch of cultivated country. --W. Black.
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            But all of them left me a week at a stretch. --E.
                                                  Eggleston.
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   3. The extent to which anything may be stretched.
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            Quotations, in their utmost stretch, can signify no
            more than that Luther lay under severe agonies of
            mind.                                 --Atterbury.
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            This is the utmost stretch that nature can.
                                                  --Granville.
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   4. (Naut.) The reach or extent of a vessel's progress on one
      tack; a tack or board.
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   5. Course; direction; as, the stretch of seams of coal.
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   {To be on the stretch}, to be obliged to use one's utmost
      powers.

   {Home stretch}. See under {Home}, a.
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