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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

spread-eagle en · ADJ

Pronunciation

Etymology

From spread eagle (noun).

Meanings

  1. Lying with arms and legs outstretched and separated.
  2. (US, dated) Characterized by a pretentious, boastful, exaggerated style; bombastic.
    • 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 […] c. 1857, unknown author, from Boston Gazette, quoted in George Francis Train, Spread-eagleism, page 88 (1859)
    • But Mr. Lloyd is not a spread-eagle patriot, or much given to political partisanship. 1894, The Arena, volume 10, page 581:
    • 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. 1900, The Nation, volume 70, page 101:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
most spread-eagle Degree=Sup lexicographic
more spread-eagle Degree=Cmp lexicographic

Deriveds

spreadeagleism

spread-eagle en · VERB

Pronunciation

Etymology

From spread eagle (noun).

Meanings

  1. (transitive) To put into a spread-eagle position, with arms and legs extended and spread.
  2. (intransitive) To put one's body in a spread eagle.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
spread-eagling Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
spread-eagled Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
spread-eagled Tense=Past lexicographic
spread-eagles Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic

Translations (2)

mi whakaineine (Lying with arms and legs outstretched and separated) · mi tīwhera (Lying with arms and legs outstretched and separated)