astraddle

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English

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Etymology

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From a- +‎ straddle.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /əˈstɹædəl/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ædəl

Adverb

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astraddle (not comparable)

  1. In a straddling position; astride.
    • 1698, John Fryer, “Takes Notice of Broach; the Change of Governors at Surat; Intestine Broils of the Empire; Rencounters of the English; and Portentous Accidents of This Year”, in A New Account of East-India and Persia, in Eight Letters. Being Nine Years Travels, Begun 1672. And Finished 1681. [], London: [] R[obert] R[oberts] for Ri[chard] Chiswell, letter VI, page 410:
      The Charioteer rides afore, a-ſtraddle on the Beam that makes the Yoke for the Oxen, which is covered with Scarlet, and finely carved underneath []
    • 1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “A Matter of Civilization”, in The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book 3, section “The False Armistice”, page 356:
      A faint string of smoke was rising from a cigarette-tray—a number of Vanity Fair sat astraddle on the table.
    • 2003, Don DeLillo, Cosmopolis[1], New York: Scribner, Part Two, Chapter 4, p. 177:
      She climbed his body and wrapped her legs around him and they made love there, man standing, woman astraddle, in the stone odor of demolition.

Translations

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Preposition

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astraddle

  1. In a straddling position on.
    • 1848, Joseph Holt Ingraham, chapter 2, in Mark Manly: or, The Skipper’s Lad[2], New York: Williams Brothers, page 15:
      [] see that your men reload their muskets the meanwhile, ready for any old woman we may see riding through the air astraddle a broomstick.
    • 1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 3, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →LCCN, page 17:
      The used-to-be sheriff sat rakishly astraddle his horse.
    • 2011, Guy Vanderhaeghe, chapter 22, in A Good Man[3], Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, page 359:
      He spies a group of Irish officers astraddle the road, conferring on horseback.

Synonyms

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