sprawling

sprawling
    adj 1: spreading out in different directions; "sprawling
           handwriting"; "straggling branches"; "straggly hair"
           [syn: {sprawling}, {straggling}, {rambling}, {straggly}]
    n 1: an ungainly posture with arms and legs spread about [syn:
         {sprawl}, {sprawling}]
    

Sprawl \Sprawl\ (spr[add]l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Sprawled}
   (spr[add]ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Sprawling}.] [OE. spraulen;
   cf. Sw. sprattla to sprawl, dial. Sw. spralla, Dan. spraelle,
   spraelde, D. spartelen, spertelen, to flounder, to struggle.]
   1. To spread and stretch the body or limbs carelessly in a
      horizontal position; to lie with the limbs stretched out
      ungracefully.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To spread irregularly, as vines, plants, or trees; to
      spread ungracefully, as chirography.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To move, when lying down, with awkward extension and
      motions of the limbs; to scramble in creeping.
      [1913 Webster]

            The birds were not fledged; but upon sprawling and
            struggling to get clear of the flame, down they
            tumbled.                              --L'Estrange.
      [1913 Webster]
    

47 Moby Thesaurus words for "sprawling":
      accumbent, couchant, couche, crawling, decumbent, deltoid, draped,
      fan-shape, fan-shaped, fanlike, fanned, fanning, flabelliform,
      flared, flaring, flat, groveling, lolling, lounging, lying, open,
      outspread, outstretched, patulous, procumbent, prone, prostrate,
      reclining, recumbent, reposing, resupine, splay, splayed, splaying,
      spraddled, spraddling, sprangled, sprangling, sprawled, sprawly,
      spread, spreading, stretched-out, supine, unfolded, wide-open,
      widespread