protract
[verb]
Synonyms: extend, draw, draw out, elongate, lengthen, prolong, prolongate, spin (out), stretch

---

Antonyms: curtail

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

protract noun. [prǝ'trakt] M16.
[Latin protractus a prolongation, from protract-: see PROTRACT verb. In sense 3 from the verb.]
1. Extension or prolongation of time; delay, procrastination. M16-M17.

2. A delineation, a drawing. rare. Only in L16.

3. A protracted religious meeting. US colloq. E20.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲

protract verb. [prǝ'trakt] M16.
[Latin protract- pa. ppl stem of protrahere prolong, defer, (in medieval Latin) draw, portray, formed as PRO-¹ + trahere draw. Cf. PORTRAY verb.]
I. 1. verb trans. Extend or prolong (time) so as to cause delay; waste (time). M16-M18.
■ W. Robertson This they did merely to protract time.

2. verb trans. Extend (an action etc.) in time; cause to continue or last longer; prolong. M16.
■ Aldous Huxley Long notes, a chord repeated, protracted..effortlessly soaring on and on.
■ H. A. L. Fisher If you wish to protract your life.
■ A. J. Cronin He could protract his investigation no longer.

3. verb trans. Put off, defer, or postpone (an action). M16-E19.
■ Gibbon To prevent, or at least to protract, his ruin.

4. verb intrans. & trans. Delay. Long rare or obsolete. E17.

5. verb trans. Extend (a thing) in space or position. M17.
■ Smollett To save his country, and protract his blaze Of glory, farther still!

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲

protract(2)
II.

6. Draw, represent by a drawing; spec. draw (a ground-plan) to scale; plot out. Cf. PROTRACTION 1. M16.
■ E. Hull We protract to a true scale the outlines of..the British Isles.

■ protracted adjective that is protracted; esp. of excessive length or duration: L17.

■ protractedly adverb M19.

■ protractedness noun L19.

■ protractive adjective characterized by or tending to protraction L16-E19.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲