ˈhome-stretch U.S.
[home n.1 B 4, stretch n. 8.]
The return stretch of a course; esp. the stretch of a racecourse on which a race finishes. Also fig.
1841 Picayune (New Orleans) 19 Jan. 1/6 At the head of the home stretch Cowboy overtook him and..beat him out by a length. 1860 [see beef v. 2]. 1861 Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. IV. 38 On the last home stretch the steam [of the plough] became so low that it required some minutes to get up sufficient to run the furrow through. 1864 Congress. Globe 12 Mar. 1069/3 Already we see the slave States..on the home-stretch to become free. 1868 W. Woodruff Trotting Horse xxiv. 207, I passed first one and then the other, and came on the home-stretch with a clear lead. 1878 Trans. Ill. Dept. Agric. XIV. 146 Still, a fleet horse who gathers up handsomely on the home-stretch, is not to be sneezed at by any one. 1897 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 6 Jan. 10/1 The horses had thundered down the home stretch with a finish so close as to cause the judges to wrangle among themselves. 1903 [see break n.1 8 b]. 1968 Daily Tel. 4 Nov. 17/1 It was a furious home-stretch spurt that will last until he reaches his home in Minnesota at five a.m. on Tuesday, election day. |