Sprawling

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sprawl \Sprawl\ (spr[add]l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Sprawled}
     (spr[add]ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Sprawling}.] [OE. spraulen;
     cf. Sw. sprattla to sprawl, dial. Sw. spralla, Dan. spraelle,
     spraelde, D. spartelen, spertelen, to flounder, to struggle.]
     1. To spread and stretch the body or limbs carelessly in a
        horizontal position; to lie with the limbs stretched out


        ungracefully.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To spread irregularly, as vines, plants, or trees; to
        spread ungracefully, as chirography.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To move, when lying down, with awkward extension and
        motions of the limbs; to scramble in creeping.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The birds were not fledged; but upon sprawling and
              struggling to get clear of the flame, down they
              tumbled.                              --L'Estrange.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  sprawling
       adj 1: spread out irregularly; "sat sprawled in the big armchair";
              "the sprawling suburbs"; "a big sprawly city" [syn: {sprawled},
               {sprawly}]
       2: spreading out carelessly (as if wandering) in different
          directions; "sprawling handwriting"; "straggling
          branches"; "straggly hair" [syn: {straggling}, {straggly}]
       n : an ungainly posture with arms and legs spread about [syn: {sprawl}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  47 Moby Thesaurus words for "sprawling":
     accumbent, couchant, couche, crawling, decumbent, deltoid, draped,
     fan-shape, fan-shaped, fanlike, fanned, fanning, flabelliform,
     flared, flaring, flat, groveling, lolling, lounging, lying, open,
     outspread, outstretched, patulous, procumbent, prone, prostrate,
     reclining, recumbent, reposing, resupine, splay, splayed, splaying,
     spraddled, spraddling, sprangled, sprangling, sprawled, sprawly,
     spread, spreading, stretched-out, supine, unfolded, wide-open,
     widespread