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1984 vocabulary

3 units of measurement vocabulary

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Definition:

1. The space from the thumb to the end of the little finger when extended; nine inches; eighth of a fathom.
2. Hence, a small space or a brief portion of time.

Noah Webster. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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also: half a cubit...
^{image: by Erik Wannee, CC0}
^{https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_left_hand.png}

► uses

Uses:

all things under heaven, are but vain, that our life is but a shadow, a warfare, a pilgrimage, a vapour, a bubble, a blast of such shortness, that David says, it is but a span long

John Lyly. Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578)

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slowly holds out his hands, his head going back till both hands are a span from his breast,

James Joyce. Ulysses

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The wire door was a couple of hand-spans from his face.

George Orwell. 1984 (1949)