sprawl — English Dictionary

Verb

1. To sit with the limbs spread out.

   Examples

   More examples (2)

   There was no special place for him or his little affairs, and he was forbidden to sprawl on sofas and explain his ideas about the manufacture of this world and his hopes for the future. Sprawling was lazy and wore out sofas, and little boys were not expected to talk.

   But most of all I like to sit in the dark with all these hearty souls sprawled around me on the floor and hear them talk. I am sorry to say that I can never believe that floor-sprawling is anything but a pose; I have tried it and it is not comfortable but it looks well in the flickering fire-light, and is in good magazine-story tradition.

   There were pillows on the floor, a few chairs, and four or five students sprawled here and there watching a football game.

2. To spread out in a disorderly fashion; to straggle.

   Synonyms

   splay

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   The hatched young ones are ſodl to thoſe who breed them up, and theſe try in the following manner whether they are hatched too ſoon or not: they take hold the little ducks by the bill, and their bodies hang down ; if they ſprawl and extend their feet and wings, they are hatched in due time ; but if they have had too much heat, they hang without any ſtruggling.

   A shrewd blow, it caught him off balance, and after one ineffectual stagger he sprawled backward and lay for a moment staring up in blank surprise

   More examples (1)

   German trucks stood along the road, the drivers dead in the seats or sprawled on the ground nearby. […] The woods were dotted with the corpses of German machine gunners still sprawled grotesquely over their weapons, having given their lives to buy time for Group Mihiel’s escape.

   Bell sprawled full length to turn a Sandaza drive wide of the far post, but Saints had done enough to inflict Killie's first home defeat of the season.

3. To scoot the legs backwards, so as to land on the upper back of an opponent attempting a takedown.

Noun

1. An ungainly sprawling posture.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

2. A straggling, haphazard growth, especially of housing on the edge of a city.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   More examples (3)

   He briefly compares the relative merits of providing for that growth by the usual method of urban sprawl and by directing it into suburban satellite communities with the integrity preserved and comes out strongly for the latter method.

   Many of our past difficulties in dealing with sprawl come from some very mistaken if widely held assumptions. One is that sprawl is due to too many people and not enough land.

   Getting people to think about the future is difficult. Just ask some of the people who end up being most concerned about sprawl—the millions who move into suburban subdivisions, only to have their dreams of the good life spoiled by maddening traffic and water bans, because millions more moved into the next subdivision over.

3. A defensive technique that is done in response to certain takedown attempts, where one scoots the legs backwards so as to land on the upper back of the opponent.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

Noun

1. an aggregation or continuous network of urban communities

   Synonyms

   conurbationurban sprawl

   Broader terms

   urban areapopulated area

2. an ungainly posture with arms and legs spread about

   Synonyms

   sprawling

   Broader terms

   positionpostureattitude

Verb

1. sit or lie with one's limbs spread out

   Broader terms

   sitsit downlie

2. go, come, or spread in a rambling or irregular way

   Synonyms

   straggle

   Broader terms

   spreaddistribute

   Examples

   Branches straggling out quite far