spread-eagle

== English == === Etymology === From spread eagle (noun). === Pronunciation === === Adjective === spread-eagle (comparative more spread-eagle, superlative most spread-eagle) Lying with arms and legs outstretched and separated. (Can we verify(+) this sense?) (dated, US) Characterized by a pretentious, boastful, exaggerated style; bombastic. c. 1857, unknown author, from Boston Gazette, quoted in in George Francis Train, Spread-eagleism, page 88 (1859) 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 […] ==== Derived terms ==== spreadeagleism === Verb === spread-eagle (third-person singular simple present spread-eagles, present participle spread-eagling, simple past and past participle spread-eagled) (transitive) To put into a spread-eagle position, with arms and legs extended and spread. (intransitive) To put one's body in a spread eagle. ==== Translations ==== === References === “spread-eagle”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.