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Spread-eagle   /sprɛd-ˈigəl/   Listen
Spread-eagle

verb
1.
Stretch out completely.
2.
Stretch over.
3.
Execute a spread eagle on skates, with arms and legs stretched out.
4.
Stand with arms and legs spread out.
5.
Defeat disastrously.  Synonyms: rout, spreadeagle.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Spread-eagle" Quotes from Famous Books



... three were in our private geological treasury, Leonard making a spread-eagle of himself in an impossible place on the cliff side, trying to disinter what hope, springing eternal in the human breast, pronounced to be the paddle of a saurian; Aubrey, climbing as high as he durst, directing operations ...
— The Trial - or, More Links of the Daisy Chain • Charlotte M. Yonge

... Ardelia Rumsey, who wuz goin' to be married soon, wanted me, if I see any new kinds of bed-quilt patterns to the White House, or to the senators' housen, to get the patterns for her. She said she wus sick of sunflowers, and blazin' stars, and such. She thought mebby they'd have suthin' new, spread-eagle style, or suthin' of that kind. She said "her feller was goin' to be connected with the Government, and she ...
— Sweet Cicely - Or Josiah Allen as a Politician • Josiah Allen's Wife (Marietta Holley)

... by themselves and not by counsel; but the main object of his speech was to appeal to the House "not to work upon the passions where the head is to be informed." Mr. Robert Wilmot thereupon arose, and replied in an oration belonging to that "spread-eagle" order which is familiar to American political controversy. "Talk of working on the passions," this orator exclaimed; "can any man's passions be wound up to a greater height, can any man's indignation be more raised, than every free-born Briton's must ...
— A History of the Four Georges, Volume II (of 4) • Justin McCarthy

... lumpy sore, Barbara, just crusty, 'cause I made—lots of dandelion curls wif my tongue to-day, and they're—velly—sour," and with a satisfied yawn he rolled back on his pillow, into the funny spread-eagle attitude peculiar to himself, but Richard slept peacefully on like a picture child, cheek on hand, and the other little dandelion-stained paw above ...
— People of the Whirlpool • Mabel Osgood Wright

... Still no sign of No.— being ready, which is not surprising, as the hay had to be cut and the place drained more or less. The French and English officers here all sit at different tables, and don't hobnob much. Six officers of the Royal Flying Corps are here, double-breasted tunics and two spread-eagle wings on left breast. Troops are still arriving at the docks, which are the biggest I have ever seen. The men on the trams give us back our sous, as we ...
— Diary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front, 1914-1915 • Anonymous

... springing straight up from the fastening of an American shield,—above all, when the dog himself appeared, "dressed in his clothes" (a cane, an all-round white collar and a natty little tie, a pair of three-dollar tasselled kid-gloves dangling from his left paw, and a small monitor hat with a big spread-eagle stuck above the brim,—the remaining details of costume being of no consequence),—when he stood "reading the news" from a huge bulletin,—"LATEST BY CABLE FROM EUROPE,"—nobody could mistake the personification of ...
— Junior Classics, V6 • Various

... more and more capacity in dispatching the regular, current, diplomatical business affairs. In all such matters he is now at home, as if he had done it for years and years. He is no more spread-eagle in his diplomatic relations; is easy and prompt in all secondary questions relating to secondary interests, and daily ...
— Diary from March 4, 1861, to November 12, 1862 • Adam Gurowski

... me off my feet. He took a lunging step forward and hurled me onto the bed, where I carried the springs deep down, to bounce up and off and forward to come up flat against the far wall. I landed sort of spread-eagle flat and seemed to hang there before I slid down the wall to the floor with a meaty-sounding Whump! Then before I could collect my wits or myself, he came over the bed in one long leap and had me hauled upright by the coat lapels again. The other hand was cocked back level with his ...
— Highways in Hiding • George Oliver Smith

... those days, and our steamer carried out the news of the seven days' battles before Richmond, which terminated in the retreat of General McClellan. We had a Fourth of July dinner on board, but between seasickness and heart sickness it was the toughest experience of making a spread-eagle speech I ever had. After landing at Queenstown I went to Belfast and thence to Edinburgh. I found the people of Edinburgh intensely excited over our war and the current of popular sentiment running against us like a mill-race. For instance, I was recognized by my soft ...
— Recollections of a Long Life - An Autobiography • Theodore Ledyard Cuyler



Words linked to "Spread-eagle" :   spreadeagle, range, straddle, stretch, figure skate, extend, shell, extended, rout, beat, beat out, sprawl, trounce, sport, athletics, vanquish, crush



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