outspread
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English outspreden, equivalent to out- + spread. Cognate with Dutch uitspreiden (“to outspread, stretch, unfold”), Danish udsprede (“to outspread”), Swedish utspridda (“to outspread”).
Verb edit
outspread (third-person singular simple present outspreads, present participle outspreading, simple past and past participle outspread)
- (transitive, intransitive) To spread out; expand; extend.
Adjective edit
outspread (comparative more outspread, superlative most outspread)
- Extended outward, as one's arms.
- She longed to fall into his outspread arms once again.
- 1785, William Cowper, “Book V. The Winter Morning Walk.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 221:
- Brutes […] / Ruminate heedleſs of the ſcene outſpread / Beneath, beyond, and ſtretching far away / From inland regions to the diſtant main.