Dictionary entry

Distance (2)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Dis″tance (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p.Distanced (?); p. pr. & vb. n.Distancing (?).] 1. To place at a distance or remotely.

I heard nothing thereof at Oxford, being then miles distanced thence. Fuller.

2. To cause to appear as if at a distance; to make seem remote.

His peculiar art of distancing an object to aggrandize his space. H. Miller.

3. To outstrip by as much as a distance (see Distance, n., 3); to leave far behind; to surpass greatly.

He distanced the most skillful of his contemporaries. Milner.