sprawl

Meaning

Verb

1. To sit with the limbs spread out.
2. To spread out in a disorderly fashion; to straggle.
3. To scoot the legs backwards, so as to land on the upper back of an opponent attempting a takedown.

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) An ungainly sprawling posture.
2. (countable, uncountable) A straggling, haphazard growth, especially of housing on the edge of a city.
3. (countable, uncountable) A defensive technique that is done in response to certain takedown attempts, where one scoots the legs backwards so as to land on the upper back of the opponent.

Synonyms

stretch

spread out

spread

straggle

stretch out

lounge

loll

expand

sprawling

conurbation

urban sprawl

infest

lengthen

lie

prolong

radiate

reach out

run out

sit

🪑

slouch

spread-eagle

strain

stretch along

suburbia

tense

spraddle

wallow

welter

lie sprawled

put forth branches

activity

bush out

branch

branch out

crane

creep

distend

draw up

energy

extend

fork

go

Translations

s’étaler

espandersi

s’étendre

yacer

conurbation

arrepapar-se

repapar-se

escarxofar-se

aclofar-se

estendre’s

ausspreizen

sich strecken

ungeordnete Ausbreitung einer Stadt

ausgestreckt liegen

postura desmanegada

Pronounced as (IPA)

/spɹɔːl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: spraulen

Inherited from Old English: spreawlian

Cognate with Northern Frisian: spraweli

In summary

From Middle English spraulen, from Old English spreawlian (“move convulsively”), ultimately through a Proto-Germanic form cognate with *spreutaną (“to sprout”) from Proto-Indo-European *sper- (“to strew”). Compare North Frisian spraweli, Norwegian sprala, Swedish sprala.