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, spreawliʓe.
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. Ibid., 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, trans. 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. Miss 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. Sportsmen 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 ouerflowen 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.
