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spread-eagle

 - 3 dictionary results

spread-ea⋅gle

  [spred-ee-guhl] adjective, verb, -gled, -gling.
Use spread-eagle in a Sentence
–adjective
1. having or suggesting the form of a spread eagle.
2. lying prone with arms and legs outstretched.
3. boastful or bombastic, esp. in the display of patriotic or nationalistic pride in the U.S.
–verb (used with object)
4. to stretch out (something) in the manner of a spread eagle.
–verb (used without object)
5. to assume the position or perform the acrobatic figure of a spread eagle: The skater spread-eagled across the rink.
Origin:
1820–30
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To spread-eagle
spread-ea·gle   (sprěd'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.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

spread-eagle 
lit. "splayed eagle," 1570, a heraldic term; the figure is that of the seal of the United States (hence spreadeagleism "extravagant laudation of the U.S.," 1858). Meaning "person secured with arms and legs stretched out" (originally to be flogged) is attested from 1785.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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