outspread
Americanverb (used with or without object)
adjective
-
spread out; stretched out.
outspread arms.
-
diffused abroad; widely disseminated.
The outspread news had traveled quickly.
noun
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the act of spreading out; expansion.
the rapid outspread of the early American colonists.
-
something that is spread out; an expanse.
a vast outspread of rich farmland.
verb
adjective
-
spread or stretched out
-
scattered or diffused widely
noun
Etymology
Origin of outspread
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
At the top is an enamelled dove with outspread wings, which represents the Holy Ghost.
From Reuters ● May 5, 2023
We all wish we could still run into the outspread arms of the father we lost.
From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2022
When the dough has doubled in size, about an hour or so, push it down with outspread fingers, making dimples in the dough.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 5, 2021
Thus a skydiver falls more slowly with outspread limbs than when they are in a pike position—head first with hands at their side and legs together.
From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015
Jacques, his tiny wings outspread, smoke still spiraling from his nostrils, turned to Christopher.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
In four years he has made Brooklyn's farm system baseball's biggest, outspreading the famed St. Louis Cardinals' system, which he built.
From Time Magazine Archive
I dreamed a world where all seemed first-created outspreading bird cherries in the dewfall with blackbirds and nightingales crowded.
From Time Magazine Archive
Nearby stood a large tree, with great outspreading branches, and under this they stopped, John's heart was beating fast, while the girl's face almost equalled the rose in colour.
From Jess of the Rebel Trail by Cody, H. A. (Hiram Alfred)
The brush fire sent a line of smoke straight up, a long milky thread, that slowly disentangled itself and mounted to a final outspreading.
From The Emigrant Trail by Bonner, Geraldine
There is no spot in Richmond where Fond memory loves to dwell, As on the glebe outspreading there In Ballou's blithesome dell.
From Biography of Rev. Hosea Ballou by Ballou, Maturin Murray
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
