Spread — Defs

01 v. t. To extend in length and breadth, or in breadth only; to stretch or expand to a broad or broader surface or extent; to open; to unfurl; as, …

imp. & p. p. Spread; p. pr. & vb. n. Spreading

1.
To extend in length and breadth, or in breadth only; to stretch or expand to a broad or broader surface or extent; to open; to unfurl; as, to spread a carpet; to spread a tent or a sail.
“He bought a parcel of a field where he had spread his tent.” — Gen. xxxiii. 19.

“Here the Rhone Hath spread himself a couch.” — Byron.
2.
To extend so as to cover something; to extend to a great or greater extent in every direction; to cause to fill or cover a wide or wider space.
“Rose, as in a dance, the stately trees, and spread Their branches hung with copious fruit.” — Milton.
3.
To divulge; to publish, as news or fame; to cause to be more extensively known; to disseminate; to make known fully; as, to spread a report; -- often accompanied by abroad.
“They, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.” — Matt. ix. 31.
4.
To propagate; to cause to affect great numbers; as, to spread a disease.
5.
To diffuse, as emanations or effluvia; to emit; as, odoriferous plants spread their fragrance.
6.
To strew; to scatter over a surface; as, to spread manure; to spread lime on the ground.
7.
To prepare; to set and furnish with provisions; as, to spread a table.
“Boiled the flesh, and spread the board.” — Tennyson.

Phrases & compounds

To spread cloth — to unfurl sail.

02 v. i. To extend in length and breadth in all directions, or in breadth only; to be extended or stretched; to expand.

1.
To extend in length and breadth in all directions, or in breadth only; to be extended or stretched; to expand.
“Plants, if they spread much, are seldom tall.” — Bacon.

“Governor Winthrop, and his associates at Charlestown, had for a church a large, spreading tree.” — B. Trumbull.
2.
To be extended by drawing or beating; as, some metals spread with difficulty.
3.
To be made known more extensively, as news.
4.
To be propagated from one to another; as, the disease spread into all parts of the city.

03 n. Extent; compass.

1.
Extent; compass.
“I have got a fine spread of improvable land.” — Addison.
2.
Expansion of parts.
“No flower hath spread like that of the woodbine.” — Bacon.
3.
A cloth used as a cover for a table or a bed.
4.
A table, as spread or furnished with a meal; hence, an entertainment of food; a feast.[Colloq.]
5.
A privilege which one person buys of another, of demanding certain shares of stock at a certain price, or of delivering the same shares of stock at another price, within a time agreed upon.[Brokers' Cant]
6.
An unlimited expanse of discontinuous points.(Geom.)
7.
An arbitrage transaction operated by buying and selling simultaneously in two separate markets, as Chicago and New York, when there is an abnormal difference in price between the two markets. It is called a back spreadwhen the difference in price is less than the normal one.(Finance)
8.
Surface in proportion to the depth of a cut stone.(Gems)

04 imp. & p. p. imp. & p. p. of Spread, v.

Phrases & compounds

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