Stretch The Truth Meaning

(idiomatic) to exaggerate, often to the point where the truth is obscured or lost.

Example: 1996 Fall, “From Sykes-Picot through Bandung to Oslo: Whither the Arab world?”, Arab Studies Quarterly, volume 18, number 4, page 1:
  It would stretch the truth, but perhaps not tear it to tatters, to say that World War II was fought over oil.
2003 11/09, Jim Armstrong, “NFL players skilled at other sports”, Houston Chronicle, Sports, page 2:
  You think they exaggerate sometimes? You think they embellish things, stretch the truth, play loose with the facts?
2009, Eric Kraft, Flying:
  " And you suspect them of stretching the truth? Or shrinking the truth?"