distance

Etymology

From Middle English distance, distaunce, destaunce, from Old French destance, from Latin distantia (“distance, remoteness, difference”), from distāns, present participle of distō (“I stand apart, I am separate, distant, or different”), from di-, dis- (“apart”) + stō (“I stand”). Compare Dutch afstand (“distance”, literally “off-stand, off-stance”), German Abstand.

noun

1. The amount of space between two points, usually geographical points, usually (but not necessarily) measured along a straight line.
   The distance to Petersborough is thirty miles.
   From Moscow, the distance is relatively short to Saint Petersburg, relatively long to Novosibirsk, but even greater to Vladivostok.
2. Length or interval of time.
   ten years' distance between my writing the one and the other 1718, Matthew Prior, Preface to a Collection of Poems
   the writings of Euclid at the distance of two thousand years 1795, John Playfair, Elements of Geometry
3. (informal) The difference; the subjective measure between two quantities.
   We're narrowing the distance between the two versions of the bill.  The distance between the lowest and next gear on my bicycle is annoying.
4. Remoteness of place; a remote place.
   'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view. 1799, Thomas Campbell, The Pleasure of Hope
5. Remoteness in succession or relation.
   the distance between a descendant and his ancestor
6. A space marked out in the last part of a racecourse.
7. (uncountable, figurative) The entire amount of progress to an objective.
   He had promised to perform this task, but did not go the distance.
8. (uncountable, figurative) A withholding of intimacy; alienation; variance.
   The friendship did not survive the row: they kept each other at a distance.
9. The remoteness or reserve which respect requires; hence, respect; ceremoniousness.
   ’Tis by respect and distance that authority is upheld. 1706, Francis Atterbury, A Sermon Preached in the Guild-Hall Chapel, September 28 1706
10. The space measured back from the winning-post which a racehorse running in a heat must reach when the winner has covered the whole course, in order to run in the final heat.

verb

1. (transitive) To move away (from) someone or something.
   He distanced himself from the comments made by some of his colleagues.
2. (transitive) To leave at a distance; to outpace, leave behind.
   Then the horse, with muscles strong as steel, distanced the sound. 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 71
3. (transitive) To lose interest in a specific issue.