▪ I. sprawl, n.
(sprɔːl)
Also 8 Sc. spraul.
[f. sprawl v.]
1. a. The, or an, act of sprawling; an awkward or clumsy spreading out of the limbs.
| 1719 Ozell tr. Misson's Mem. 25 When the Dog thinks he is sure of fixing his Teeth, a Turn of the [Bull's] Horn..gives him a Sprawl thirty Foot high. 1820 Keats Eve of St. Agnes xli, To the iron porch they glide, Where lay the Porter, in uneasy sprawl. a 1847 Eliza Cook Old Mill-Stream xiii, And the running,..the pull and the haul, Had a glorious end in the slip and the sprawl. 1857 A. Mathews Tea-Table T. I. 188 The triumphant shout which accompanies his awkward sprawl on the carpet. |
b. A straggling array or display of something.
| 1827 Blackw. Mag. XXII. 474 Through one long wide sprawl of men, women, and children, we wheeled past the Gothic front. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. I. 217 The sprawl of nakedness with which Michael Angelo has filled his sky. |
c. the sprawls, a disease affecting the legs of young ducks. dial.
| 1880– in south-western glossaries. |
d. The straggling expansion of an indeterminate urban or industrial environment into the adjoining countryside; the area of this advancement. Freq. with defining adj. (see suburban and urban sprawl at first element).
| 1955 Times 23 Aug. 10/2 It is sad to think that London's great sprawl will inevitably engulf us sooner or later, no matter how many ‘green belts’ are interposed in the meantime between the colossus and ourselves. 1958 Listener 23 Oct. 641/1 As the new industrial zones came to life on the edges of the built-up areas, they frequently appeared to be no more than an extension of the old industrial sprawl. 1967 Ibid. 3 Aug. 147/2 Planning so far has failed to contain sprawl. 1971 P. Gresswell Environment 122 Green Belt policy stopped sprawl in crucial places at a crucial time. 1977 Listener (N.Z.) 15 Jan. 9/2 It's a sad reflection on our society that ‘suburban’ has become a dirty word, synonymous with ‘subtopia’ and responsible for many urban problems from neurosis to sprawl. |
2. A struggle. rare—1.
| 1795 A. Wilson Hollander Poet. Wks. (1846) 193 Jock and him has aft a spraul Wha'll bring the biggest dark [= day's work] in. |
3. dial. and U.S. Activity, energy, go.
| 1888– in south-western glossaries and texts. 1894 Advance (Chicago) 25 Oct. 124/1 Fact of it is neither of them had sprawl enough to disagree. 1896 T. Hardy Jude i. ii, Poor or'nary child—there never was any sprawl on thy side of the family. |
▪ II. sprawl, v.
(sprɔːl)
Forms: α. 1 spreawlian, 2 spreulen; north. and Sc. 5–6, 8–9 sprewl, 8 sprowl, 9 spreul, sprule. β. 4–7 spraule, 5–7 spraul. γ. 4 sprawel, 5 sprawlyn, 6– sprawl. δ. 6 spralle (sprale), 6–7 sprall.
[OE. spreawlian, = NFris. spraweli in the same sense.]
1. intr. To move the limbs in a convulsive effort or struggle; to toss about or spread oneself out; in later use, to be stretched out on the ground, etc., in an ungainly or awkward manner.
| α c 1000 Prudentius Gloss. in Germania XXIII. 392 Palpitet, spreawliᵹe. a 1100 in Napier O.E. Glosses 216/1 Palpitat, moritur, spreulede. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. 1835 Þe kynge saw in to þat tyde A woman slayne, and of hir syde A barne he saw fal out sprewlande. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 1957 At þe last sho lay sprewland o brade, Lyke to dye. 1513 Douglas æneid v. viii. 115 Doun duschit the beist, deid on the land gan ly, Sprewland and flikkerand in the deid thrawis. 1722 Ramsay Three Bonnets iv. 97 The Peterenians..That gar Fowk lik the Dowps of Priests, Else on a Brander like a Haddock, Be broolied, sprowling like a Paddock. 1781 J. Hutton Tour to Caves (ed. 2) Gloss., Sprewl, to spurn and kick with both hands and feet when held down. 1825– in Jamieson, etc. |
| β a 1300 Havelok 475 Þer was sorwe, wo so it sawe! Hwan þe children bi þe wawe Leyen and sprauleden in þe blod. 1388 Wyclif 2 Sam. xviii. 14 Whanne he spraulide, ȝit cleuynge in the ook. ― Tobit vi. 4 It [the fish] bigan to spraule bifor hise feet. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 16964 He..sclow hem doun as he were wood; Thei lay & sprauled in her blood. 1530 Palsgr. 729 And you spraule on this facion you shall have the lesse favoure. 1542 Boorde Dyetary xxviii. (1870) 292 And let euery man beware..to spraule with the legges out of the bed. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. i. Wks. 1856 I. 16 Senseless he sprauld, all notcht with gaping wounds. 1623 Markham Cheap Husb. (ed. 3) i. ii. 20 If he spraule or paw forth with his feet, you shall..giue him..a good ierke or two. 1663 Butler Hud. i. iii. 731 Some lye sprauling on the ground With many a gash and bloudy wound. |
| γ c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 475 For þan may he noght stande ne crepe Bot ligge and sprawel, and cry and wepe. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 470 Sprawlyn, palpito. 1581 A. Hall Iliad iii. 54 Then with his knife the two yong lambs he slue, And weakly sprawling in their blood, on ground from him he threw. 1609 C. Butler Fem. Mon. (1634) 98 The better part of these brave Soldiers..lay, some dead, some half-dead, sprawling on the ground. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 164, I saw one once give a great Dog such a blow with his foot, as left him sprawling with his four legs up in the Air. 1717 Prior Alma i. 275 Before the child can crawl, He learns to kick, and wince, and sprawl. 1753 J. Collier Art Torment. i. iii. (1811) 79 If they..afterwards should choose to cool their limbs by sprawling about on the wet grass after the dew is fallen. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 312, I rode over him one day as he and his horse lay sprawling in the dirt. 1870 Rock Text. Fabr. Introd. p. cxxi, Rich barons and titled courtiers would sprawl amid the straw and rushes. |
| δ 1530 Palsgr. 729, I spralle, as a yonge thing doth, that can nat well styrre, je crosle. a 1535 Fisher Serm. Wks. (1876) 421 The burninge wormes and serpents shal sprale aboue thee. 1567 Drant Horace, Ep. xix. F vij, They..practysde it full well, All night to sprall and stryue with wyne. 1614 Gorges Lucan iii. 105 The bruised corpes to death doth sprall, And mingles bloud and ioynts withall. 1675 Hobbes Odyss. (1677) 232 A fawn, that sprall'd and labour'd to get free. |
b. To crawl from one place to another in a struggling or ungraceful manner. Also fig., to proceed, issue.
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 47 That this new practise from my old foes treacherye sprauleth. 1663 Heath Flagellum To Rdr., All the different Sects and Schisms which He kept in perpetual separation..now run into a coalition; and like divided parcels of dying vipers, spraul towards a union with this their Head. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. iii. 27 Who were there then in the world, to observe the Births of those First Men,..as they sprawl'd out of Ditches? 1851 Thackeray Eng. Hum. v. (1853) 240 The sturdy little painter is seen sprawling over a plank to a boat. |
c. With complement: to sprawl one's last, to make a last convulsive struggle in death.
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. vii. v, Sansculottism, once more flung resupine, lies sprawling; sprawling its last. 1863 Reader 7 Nov. 538 One of them..is sprawling his last as a Japanese..seems able to sprawl it. |
2. Of things: To spread out, extend, climb, etc., in a straggling fashion.
| 1745 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) II. 55 Those hands that are always groping, and sprawling, and fluttering. 1815 Scott Guy M. ii, His long mis-shapen legs sprawling abroad. 1885 Manch. Exam. 17 Jan. 5/4 A great, awkward..goods train lies sprawling across the main artery of traffic. 1890 H. Frederic Lawton Girl 31 A broad rickety veranda sprawling its whole width. 1892 Quiller-Couch Warwickshire Avon 26 The jasmine and the ivy sprawl up its sad-colored walls. |
b. In specific uses (see quots.).
| 1802 James Milit. Dict., To sprawl, to widen out in an irregular and unsoldier-like manner.—This term is chiefly applicable to the cavalry. 1875 Chambers's Jrnl. 80 Sports⁓men who hope for success must beware of letting their shot sprawl. |
c. Of handwriting or written matter.
| 1840 Thackeray Shabby-genteel Story ii, Is it not a sweet name? It sprawls over half the paper. 1858 R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma lxvii. 302 The description then sprawled over four sides of letter paper. 1883 F. M. Peard Contrad. I. 33 The handwriting, as he noted, was large and rather inclined to sprawl. |
3. trans. To spread or stretch out (something) in a wide or straggling manner. Usu. with out.
| 1541 Paynell Catiline xli. 61 This myschiefe is sprawled abrode further than you thynke; For it hath not onely ouer⁓flowen Italy, but is also runne ouer the mountayns Alpes. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 438 Though I can sprawl out legs too, I feel neither ground to tread on, nor water to push against. 1815 Scott Guy M. xx, Sprawling out his leg, and bending his back like an automaton. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. i. xii, Speechless nurselings..sprawl out numb⁓plump little limbs. 1878 Fraser's Mag. XVIII. 385 Is our exuberance of military power so great that we can afford to sprawl our military stations all over the Mediterranean? |
Hence sprawled ppl. a.
| 1884 Stevenson Lett. (1899) I. 314 The blind man in these sprawled lines sends greeting. |