2. To spread irregularly, as vines, plants, or tress; to spread ungracefully, as chirography.
3. To move, when lying down, with awkward extension and motions of the limbs; to scramble in creeping. The birds were not fledged; but upon sprawling and struggling to get clear of the flame, down they tumbled. L'Estrange.
SPRAWLS
Sprawls, n. pl.
Defn: Small branches of a tree; twigs; sprays. [Prov. Eng.]
Halliwell.
SPRAY
Spray, n. Etym: [Cf. Dan. sprag. See Sprig.]
1. A small shoot or branch; a twig. Chaucer. The painted birds, companions of the spring, Hopping from spray, were heard to sing. Dryden.
2. A collective body of small branches; as, the tree has a beautiful spray. And from the trees did lop the needless spray. Spenser.
3. (Founding) (a) A side channel or branch of the runner of a flask, made to distribute the metal in all parts of the mold. (b) A group of castings made in the same mold and connected by sprues formed in the runner and its branches. Knight. Spray drain (Agric.), a drain made by laying under earth the sprays or small branches of trees, which keep passages open.
SPRAY Spray, n. Etym: [probably from a Dutch or Low German form akin to E. spread. See Spread, v. t.]
1. Water flying in small drops or particles, as by the force of wind, or the dashing of waves, or from a waterfall, and the like.