[syn: sprawling, straggling, rambling, straggly]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
sprawling
adj 1: spreading out in different directions; "sprawling
handwriting"; "straggling branches"; "straggly hair"
[syn: sprawling, straggling, rambling, straggly]
n 1: an ungainly posture with arms and legs spread about [syn:
sprawl, sprawling]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
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