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.
Derivatives:
sprawlingly adv.
Etymology: OE spreawlian