_sprawl_

_sprawl_

Verb.

Pronunciation: sprɔːl.

Etymology: from Middle English sprewlen, sprawlen.

It is dated from the beginning of 1000.

Preterite tense, preterite participle: sprawled

Present participle: sprawling.

Third-person singular simple present: sprawls.

Intransitively: 1. Pristine acceptation: (the subject being a person or another animal) to lie unexpectedly, as on the ground or somewhere else, either in a convulsive manner (as the consequence of a hurt or blow inflicted on the sprawler), or in a uneasy and restless position (as the consequence of a falling, specially when the sprawler is an insect who has fallen backward, or someone who is unable to erect himself).

Antonyms: to stand, to erect oneself.

Translation: despatarrarse, in Spanish.

He flourished his stick over Tom's head; but in a moment it was spinning harmlessly in the air, and Jonas himself lay sprawling in the ditch.

Charles Dickens… Martin Chuzzlewit

[…] at the next moment the Belgian giant lay sprawling upon the carpet; and Jeames, standing over him, assumed so terrible a look, that the chasseur declined any further combat.

William Thackeray… Burlesques

The lion in this manner goes round and round, still narrowing his circle, till he comes to the proper distance to make his spring; just at the time the lion springs, the horse lashes with both legs from behind […]; it more often happening that the lion is stunned, and struck motionless by the blow, than that he effects his jump between the horse's shoulders. If the lion is stunned, and left sprawling, the horse escapes, without attempting to improve his victory…

Oliver Goldsmith… A History of the Earth…

[…] they both slipped and rolled over and over in the road, hitting and kicking as they sprawled: then a crowd of people ran forward and pulled them asunder.

James Stephens… Mary, Mary

[…] he darted behind a tree; in his haste his toe caught in one of the straggling roots, and threw him with some violence sprawling upon the ground, […] he scrambled up again in a moment, and ensconced himself behind the trunk of the oak.

Pierce Egan… Robin Hood…

Down he flew the second flight, in a distracted leap, but could not quite recover his legs so as to save himself from falling to the ground; he sprawled [at] his full length, but was up again in an instant.

Pierce Egan… Robin Hood…

[…] there is a superstitious belief still existing among the country folks in many provinces, that whoever finds on his path a beetle sprawling on its back and unable to help itself, and sets the [… animal] upon its legs again […]

The Foreign Quarterly Review

He again assailed his antagonist, and with another stroke laid him sprawling on the floor.

Henry Fielding… Joseph Andrews

Jones asked no questions at this interval, but fell instantly upon the villain, and made such good use of his trusty oaken stick that he laid him sprawling on the ground before he could defend himself, indeed almost before he knew he was attacked; nor did he cease the prosecution of his blows till the woman herself begged him to forbear…

Henry Fielding… The History of Tom Jones

[…] the military gentleman, with one arm, removed his cloak, and stretching forward the other into Hayes's face almost, stretched likewise forward a little boy, grinning and sprawling in the air, and prevented only from falling to the ground by the hold which the Ensign kept of the waistband of his little coat and breeches.

William Thackeray… Catherine

2. Abusive acceptation: (the subject: a person or another animal) to scramble after having sprawled; to creep with an awkward movement of the arms and legs in the attempt to raise oneself. Hence, to creep (as certain animals do), even without the antecedent of having fallen; to crawl in an ungraceful manner.

He was twisting after the fashion of envenomed serpents, sprawling and spurning, and uttering cries of horror.

George Meredith… The Shaving of Shagpat

3. Metaphorical use: (the subject: an inanimate thing or a vegetable) to spread or seem to spread as if its extensions were limbs being in an uneasy posture.

On the slopes and in the plains, endless rows of scrubby, ugly trees, powdered with the universal dust, and looking exactly like mop-sticks. Sprawling and straggling over the soil beneath them, jungles of burnt-up, leafless bushes, tangled, and apparently neglected.

Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 434

There were some lustrous rugs hung up beside the door; the floor was bare except for a great tiger-skin, with the head on, that sprawled in front of the fire-place.

William Howells… The Coast of Bohemia

As the ninth, tenth, and eleventh strokes struck, a huge blackness sprawled over the whole of London.

Virginia Woolf… Orlando

4. (The subject: a person or another animal) to lie recumbently with the limbs stretched carelessly, as if such position were the result of a struggle, a hurt or a wound; to recumb with a stretch of the limbs over the surface of the recliner, the couch, etc.; to be stretched out in an ungainly manner.

Translation: distendersi, sdraiarsi in Italian, s’affaler, s’ètaler, in French; arrellanarse, in Spanish.

Approximate synonyms: loll, spraddle, curl up.

One night while Gregory sat on a high stool and rested his elbow on the desk before it, with his chin in his hand, looking down upon Fane, who sprawled sadly in his chair, and listening to the last dance playing in the distant parlor, Fane said…

William Howells… Ragged Lady

[…] he returned with a box of condoms. Without a word, he led her to the couch and sprawled in the middle. He removed a single foil pack from the box, opened it and slipped it on.

Lorelei James… Tied up, Tied down

[Daenaira] was sprawled over the bed on her belly.

Jacquelyn Frank… Rapture

Intransitively: to spread (the limbs, or one of them) carelessly or ungracefully, while one is lying recumbently. Hence: to spread, expand, or to cause to spread (other thing than the limbs) in a wide manner, as if its extensions were limbs being in an uneasy posture.

Synonym: spraddle.

Translation: despatarrar, in Spanish

Taking advantage of the informality that had developed between them, the President loosened his tie and unbottoned his collar. […] she leaned back, and sprawled her legs on the carpet.

Kishore Thukral… The Cronicler’s Daughter

The greater part of the furniture was of the powdered-head and pig-tail period: comprising a plate-warmer, always languishing and sprawling its four attenuated bow legs in somebody's way.

Charles Dickens… Dombey and Son

-) It is also used with the adverb out, to intensify the idea of expansion:

[…] he sat half a day at a stretch in the parlor, with his hat on, reading the newspapers, his legs sprawled out towards the grate.

William Howells… A Modern Instance

She got into the missionary position and placed the back of her knees on his shoulders. […] He pushed her legs aside and lowered himself on her, panting heavily in her ear. She could hear his orgasm about to erupt, so she sprawled her legs out wide for him.

Earl Sewell (Cougars)

Words derived from the verb SPRAWL: sprawl (n.), sprawler, sprawling (n., adj.), sprawlingly, sprawly, a-sprawl.