v. & n.
v. 1 a intr. sit or lie or fall with limbs flung out or in an ungainly way. b tr. spread (one's limbs) in this way. 2 intr. (of handwriting, a plant, a town, etc.) be of irregular or straggling form.
n. 1 a sprawling movement or attitude. 2 a straggling group or mass. 3 the straggling expansion of an urban or industrial area. sprawlingly adv.
[ OE spreawlian ]