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sprawling

   Also found in: Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.09 sec.
sprawl  (sprôl)
v. sprawled, sprawl·ing, sprawls
v.intr.
1. To sit or lie with the body and limbs spread out awkwardly.
2. To spread out in a straggling or disordered fashion: untidy tenements sprawling toward the river.
v.tr.
To cause to spread out in a straggling or disordered fashion.
n.
1. A sprawling position or posture.
2. Haphazard growth or extension outward, especially that resulting from real estate development on the outskirts of a city: urban sprawl.

[Middle English sprawlen, from Old English sprawlian, to writhe; see sper- in Indo-European roots.]

sprawler n.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.sprawlingsprawling - an ungainly posture with arms and legs spread about
posture, attitude, position - the arrangement of the body and its limbs; "he assumed an attitude of surrender"
Adj.1.sprawling - spreading out in different directions; "sprawling handwriting"; "straggling branches"; "straggly hair"
untidy - not neat and tidy; "careless and untidy in her personal habits"; "an untidy living room"; "untidy and casual about money"
Translations
sprawling [ˈsprɔːlɪŋ] adj [town] → desparramado


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
He did not see me and I gave him a box on the ears that laid him sprawling on the floor.
With its huge ungainly limbs sprawling unsymmetrically, and its gnarled hands and fingers, it stood an aged, stern, and scornful monster among the smiling birch trees.
Passepartout, however, thinking no harm, went in like a simple tourist, and was soon lost in admiration of the splendid Brahmin ornamentation which everywhere met his eyes, when of a sudden he found himself sprawling on the sacred flagging.
 
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