Spreadeagle
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The term spreadeagle (also spread eagle, spread-eagle) can mean more than one thing:
- In heraldry, the spreadeagle is a figure derived from a heraldic depiction of an eagle, with both wings, the body and the legs displayed, and was used as the emblem of a number of states and monarchs.
- The following meanings are closely related:
- Spreadeagle or spread-eagle refers to a person being figuratively in the same position as an eagle with its wings spread: arms outstretched, legs apart. It is sometimes used as a sexual position. In law enforcement or other situations, it is sometimes used to cause the rapid submission and control of a person, which again is a classic element in BDSM roleplay.
- The Spread-eagle game is an entertaining imaginative exercise enjoyed by many Americans of middle school age and above. In it, the participant(s) (numbering from one to as many people as can fit in a room) ask each other a question phrased approximately: "What would you do if you walked into your bedroom and found ______ spread-eagled, naked, on your bed?" The entertainment value of the game depends on the names that people think of to place in the blank, and of course the answers to the question. There does not have to be a specific order in which people ask questions, and questions can be directed at individuals, sub-groups, or the entire room.
- a figure skating element
- "The Blood eagle or Spread-eagle alledgedly was a Viking method of execution, involving the victim being pinioned face down and having his ribs separated from his spinal column and forcibly pulled outwards until they were nearly parallel with the ground, creating, in effect, a pair of 'wings'.
- Spread Eagle is also a place in Wisconsin
- "Spread-eagleism," was the 19th century precursor to the term "Jingoism".