Other forms: extended, extending, extends
To extend is to make something longer, larger or reach further out. Extend the deadline, extend the house, extend an arm.
It also means to offer something formally: extend an invitation, extend our sympathy, extend credit. And it means to reach in space or time: the estate extends to the river, the ban extends until March. Note extension, which covers a building addition, a telephone line, a deadline and a file name; and extensive, meaning covering a large area or amount.
1verbextendTo make something longer or larger.
“They extended the deadline twice and missed it anyway.”
synonyms: lengthen, enlarge, prolong
2verbformallyTo offer something formally.
“The mayor extended a warm welcome to the visitors from our twin town.”
3verbreachTo reach in space or time.
“The gardens extend all the way to the river.”
extend is a stretching out.
Also accepted in games: lengthen
Latin extendere is ex-, out, plus tendere, to stretch — the same verb behind tense, tent and attend. To extend something is to stretch it out, which the modern uses all keep.
Proto-Indo-European
*tend-
Latin
extendō — to stretch out
Anglo-Norman
extendre
Middle English
extenden
English, today
extend
From Middle English extenden, from Anglo-Norman extendre, estendre, from Latin extendō (“to stretch out”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA