Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

spread-eagle

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: 4.05 in modern English

Syllables: spread--ea-gle
IPA

15

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

4

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Lying with arms and legs outstretched and separated.

adj

Characterized by a pretentious, boastful, exaggerated style; bombastic.

American usage; Dated

verb

To put into a spread-eagle position, with arms and legs extended and spread.

Transitive verb

verb

To put one's body in a spread eagle.

Intransitive verb

Example Sentences

"Our former townsman, Mr. G. F. Train, has recently made a tremendous spread-eagle speech in England, upon the occasion of the reopening of trade between Liverpool and New Zealand […]"
"But Mr. Lloyd is not a spread-eagle patriot, or much given to political partisanship."
"The firm did a large and lucrative business from the start, the orders from spread-eagle orators often taxing the full capacity of its works."

Etymology

From spread eagle (noun).

Usage

Inflected Forms

more spread-eagle (comparative) most spread-eagle (superlative) spread-eagles (present, singular) spread-eagling (participle, present) spread-eagled (participle, past) spread-eagled (past)

Derived Forms

spreadeagleism

Synonyms

spreadeagle rout

Questions

What does spread-eagle mean?: Lying with arms and legs outstretched and separated.
Where does spread-eagle come from?: From spread eagle (noun).

How to pronounce spread-eagle

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