Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
SPRAWL
sprawl, sprawling
(noun) an ungainly posture with arms and legs spread about
conurbation, urban sprawl, sprawl
(noun) an aggregation or continuous network of urban communities
sprawl
(verb) sit or lie with one’s limbs spread out
sprawl, straggle
(verb) go, come, or spread in a rambling or irregular way; “Branches straggling out quite far”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
sprawl (third-person singular simple present sprawls, present participle sprawling, simple past and past participle sprawled)
To sit with the limbs spread out.
To spread out in a disorderly fashion; to straggle.
Noun
sprawl (countable and uncountable, plural sprawls)
An ungainly sprawling posture.
A straggling, haphazard growth, especially of housing on the edge of a city.
Source: Wiktionary
Sprawl (sprall), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sprawled (spralld); p. pr. & vb. n. Sprawling.] Etym: [OE. spraulen; cf. Sw. sprattla to sprawl, dial. Sw. spralla, Dan. spælle, sprælde, D. spartelen, spertelen, to flounder, to struggle.]
1. To spread and stretch the body or limbs carelessly in a horizontal position; to lie with the limbs stretched out ungracefully.
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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
27 June 2025
SQUARE
(adjective) having four equal sides and four right angles or forming a right angle; “a square peg in a round hole”; “a square corner”
Coffee Trivia
