sprawl

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To sit or lie with your arms and legs spread out in a relaxed or careless way.

   He sprawled across the sofa and fell asleep within minutes.

2. 2
   verb

   To spread out over a wide area in an untidy, irregular way.

   The city sprawls for miles along the coast.

3. 3
   noun

   The untidy, uncontrolled spread of buildings on the edge of a city.

   Urban sprawl has swallowed up most of the surrounding farmland.

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.

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