The idea stretches back centuries.
The idea stretched to evening wear, with a mink tuxedo looking as streamlined as cloth.
But this collection of English writers - De Quincey, Byron and Wilde naturally included - feels like a good idea stretched too far.
It was like half an idea stretched out forever and ever, and with very little payoff".
The legacy of the idea stretched into the Jim Crow era, when black women often had to work as house servants if they wanted to work at all, and it still has currency today, as the actress Viola Davis noted in an interview last year.
The plan he then described was nothing more than a rehash of tired Republican ideas stretching back decades.
Accordingly, Webbie's biggest hits — "Give Me That," from 2005; "Independent," from 2007 — have felt like almost accidental, half-hearted ideas stretched to song length, and delivered with glee.
Apart from the title track's euphoric burble-and-grind and The Brainwasher's acid-house villainy, Human After All is a joyless collection of average ideas stretched desperately thin.
Falk's ideas stretched to all areas of the marketplace, including a fragrance (called simply "Michael Jordan") made by the Beverly Hills designer Bijan, which was cited as the best-marketed product of 1996 by the American Marketing Association.
Hoffman also spoke highly of it, stating "[It] contains only as many discernible musical ideas as your average five- to seven-minute techno track but its luxurious length lets those ideas stretch out gloriously allowing a slow, fluid evolution that gestures towards a cosmic infinity".
By raising issues that create dissonance, you teach children how to deal with disharmony and to value having their ideas stretched in new directions.
