To fly away like a spread-eagle; to beat. (Sporting term.)
“Youʹll spread-eagle all the [other] cattle in a brace of shakes.”—Ouida: Under Two Flags, chap. ix.
· ·
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
· 
· 
· ·