SPREAD EAGLE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Spread eagle

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/sprɛd ˈigəl/ Listen

verb

Spread v. Imp. & p. p. of Spread, v.

Spread eagle.

(a)

An eagle with outspread wings, the national emblem of the United States.

(b)

The figure of an eagle, with its wings elevated and its legs extended; often met as a device upon military ornaments, and the like.

(c)

(Her.) An eagle displayed; an eagle with the wings and legs extended on each side of the body, as in the double-headed eagle of Austria and Russia. See Displayed, 2.

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Etymology of 'Spread eagle'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Spread eagle" Quotes from Famous Books

... drawing out some change from his pocket to pay for a very handsome and expensive barong, came across a gold-plated spread eagle, such as officers wear on their shoulder-straps. It was worth perhaps twenty-five or fifty cents, but it glittered alluringly in the sunlight, and one of the Moros, with whom he had been bargaining, made a dive for the bit of metal, ...

— A Woman's Journey through the Philippines - On a Cable Ship that Linked Together the Strange Lands Seen En Route • Florence Kimball Russel

... adventure befell this cabin-passenger. There is an old custom, still in vogue among some merchant sailors, of tying fast in the rigging any lubberly landsman of a passenger who may be detected taking excursions aloft, however moderate the flight of the awkward fowl. This is called "making a spread eagle" of the man; and before he is liberated, a promise is exacted, that before arriving in port, he shall furnish the ship's company with money enough for a ...

— Redburn. His First Voyage • Herman Melville