spread-eagle

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spread-ea·gle

(sprĕd′ē′gəl)

adj.

1. Positioned with the arms and legs stretched out.

2. Informal Full of patriotic or jingoistic rhetoric.

v. spread-ea·gled, spread-ea·gling, spread-ea·gles

v.tr.

To place in a spread-eagle position, especially as a means of punishment.

v.intr.

1. To assume a spread-eagle position.

2. To make a grandiloquent, patriotic speech.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

spread-eagle

adj

lying or standing with arms and legs outstretched

1. to assume or cause to assume the shape of a spread eagle

2. (Ice Skating) (intr) skating to execute a spread eagle

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

spread′ ea′gle

1. a representation of an eagle with outspread wings: used as an emblem of the U.S.

2. a skating figure performed with the skates touching heel-to-heel in a straight line and the arms outstretched.

[1560–70]

spread′-ea`gle

adj., v. -gled, -gling. adj.

1. having or suggesting the form of a spread eagle.

2. lying with arms and legs outstretched.

3. boastful or bombastic, esp. in the display of patriotic pride in the U.S.

v.t.

4. to stretch out in a spread-eagle position.

v.i.

5. to perform the skating figure of a spread eagle.

[1820–30]

spread-eagle

- First described a navy man who was lashed to the rigging for flogging.

spread-eagle

Past participle: spread-eagled
Gerund: spread-eagling

Imperative
spread-eagle
spread-eagle

Present
I spread-eagle
you spread-eagle
he/she/it spread-eagles
we spread-eagle
you spread-eagle
they spread-eagle

Preterite
I spread-eagled
you spread-eagled
he/she/it spread-eagled
we spread-eagled
you spread-eagled
they spread-eagled

Present Continuous
I am spread-eagling
you are spread-eagling
he/she/it is spread-eagling
we are spread-eagling
you are spread-eagling
they are spread-eagling

Present Perfect
I have spread-eagled
you have spread-eagled
he/she/it has spread-eagled
we have spread-eagled
you have spread-eagled
they have spread-eagled

Past Continuous
I was spread-eagling
you were spread-eagling
he/she/it was spread-eagling
we were spread-eagling
you were spread-eagling
they were spread-eagling

Past Perfect
I had spread-eagled
you had spread-eagled
he/she/it had spread-eagled
we had spread-eagled
you had spread-eagled
they had spread-eagled

Future
I will spread-eagle
you will spread-eagle
he/she/it will spread-eagle
we will spread-eagle
you will spread-eagle
they will spread-eagle

Future Perfect
I will have spread-eagled
you will have spread-eagled
he/she/it will have spread-eagled
we will have spread-eagled
you will have spread-eagled
they will have spread-eagled

Future Continuous
I will be spread-eagling
you will be spread-eagling
he/she/it will be spread-eagling
we will be spread-eagling
you will be spread-eagling
they will be spread-eagling

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been spread-eagling
you have been spread-eagling
he/she/it has been spread-eagling
we have been spread-eagling
you have been spread-eagling
they have been spread-eagling

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been spread-eagling
you will have been spread-eagling
he/she/it will have been spread-eagling
we will have been spread-eagling
you will have been spread-eagling
they will have been spread-eagling

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been spread-eagling
you had been spread-eagling
he/she/it had been spread-eagling
we had been spread-eagling
you had been spread-eagling
they had been spread-eagling

Conditional
I would spread-eagle
you would spread-eagle
he/she/it would spread-eagle
we would spread-eagle
you would spread-eagle
they would spread-eagle

Past Conditional
I would have spread-eagled
you would have spread-eagled
he/she/it would have spread-eagled
we would have spread-eagled
you would have spread-eagled
they would have spread-eagled

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Verb	1.	spread-eagle - stretch out completely; "They spread-eagled him across the floor" stretch, extend - extend one's limbs or muscles, or the entire body; "Stretch your legs!"; "Extend your right arm above your head"
	2.	spread-eagle - stretch over; "His residences spread-eagle the entire county" straddle, range - range or extend over; occupy a certain area; "The plants straddle the entire state"
	3.	spread-eagle - execute a spread eagle on skates, with arms and legs stretched out athletics, sport - an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition figure skate - dance on skates
	4.	spread-eagle - stand with arms and legs spread out sprawl - sit or lie with one's limbs spread out
	5.	spread-eagle - defeat disastrously spreadeagle, rout beat, beat out, vanquish, trounce, crush, shell - come out better in a competition, race, or conflict; "Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship"; "We beat the competition"; "Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game"
Adj.	1.	spread-eagle - with arms and legs stretched out and apart; "lay spread-eagle on the floor" extended - fully extended or stretched forth; "an extended telescope"; "his extended legs reached almost across the small room"; "refused to accept the extended hand"

spread-eagle

verb

To sit or lie with the limbs spread out awkwardly:

drape, loll, sprawl, straddle.

Translations

spread-eagle

[spredˈiːgl] VT → extender (completamente), despatarrar

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

spread-eagle

vt to be or lie spread-eagled → mit ausgestreckten Armen und Beinen daliegen, alle viere von sich (dat) → strecken (inf); the policeman outlined the spread-eagled body → der Polizist zeichnete die Umrisse des ausgestreckt daliegenden Toten

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

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References in classic literature ?

This table had a cover made out of beautiful oilcloth, with a red and blue spread-eagle painted on it, and a painted border all around.

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He explores the possibility that the X-mark is a figure of extremes and reversals--not primarily because of arbitrary culture encoding, but more basically because of entrenched body memories of an extreme position called in English spread-eagle. He discusses Paleo-gesture, sports and torture, brand marks, through the hourglass, double bind, foot fingers and arm thighs, the solipsistic crowd, and figure meets ground.

The Semiotics of X: Chiasmus, Cognition, and Extreme Body Memory

For that insignia he exchanged his eagle perched on an anchor for the spread-eagle worn by Army and Marine Colonels.

Navy captain rank background

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Consider the Feynman diagram that looks a bit like a person in a spread-eagle stance.

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Vale of Glamorgan teenager Zac Gould gave a scintillating five star display to spread-eagle the field in the St David's Gold Cross tournament over the Royal St David's course at Harlech.