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to stretch or expand to a broad or broader surface or extent; to open; to unfurl; as, to spread a carpet; to spread a tent or a sail. He bought a parcel of a field where he had spread his tent. Gen. xxxiii. 19. Here the Rhone Hath spread himself a couch. Byron.

y a pretentious, boastful, exaggerated style; defiantly or extravagantly bombastic; as, a spread-eagle orator; a spread-eagle speech. [Colloq.& Humorous]

1. To place in a spread-eagle position, especially as a means of punishment. 2. being in a position with the arms and legs extended fully.

One who, or that which, spreads, expands, or propogates.

, adv. Increasingly. The best times were spreadingly infected. Milton.

A bedquilt; a counterpane; a coverlet. [U. S.]

To spread or cover over. The carpet which bespread His rich pavilion's floor. Glover.

Widespread.

Spreading widely.

See Dispread.

To spread abroad, or different ways; to spread apart; to open; as, the sun dispreads his beams. Spenser.

One who spreads abroad. Dispreaders both of vice and error. Milton.

To spread out; to expand; -- usually as a past part. or adj.

To spread over; to cover; as, the deluge overspread the earth. Chaucer. Those nations of the North Which overspread the world. Drayton.

Spread to a great distance; widely extended; extending far and wide; as, widespread wings; a widespread movement.

At large; widely; broadly; over a wide space; as, a tree spreads its branches abroad. The fox roams far abroad. Prior.

of Australia. Both have a trunk of moderate height, but of enormous diameter, and a wide-spreading head. The fruit is oblong, and filled with pleasantly acid pulp. The wood is very soft, and the bark is used by the natives for making ropes and cloth. D. C. Eaton.

A plane or arched surface for sustaining bodies by its movement through the air; a spread wing, as of a bird.

causing continued or repeated pain or grief; distressing. "Jove's afflictive hand." Pope. Spreads slow disease, and darts afflictive pain. Prior.

or. Aghast he waked; and, starting from his bed, Cold sweat in clammy drops his limbs o'erspread. Dryden. The commissioners read and stood aghast. Macaulay.