Staddling

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Standing with the legs spread wide apart on either side of something ; positioned across or astride an object or line
2. Placing oneself with feet separated on both sides of an object ; extending or reaching across from one side to the other
3. Standing with legs splayed to either side ; spanning or sitting across the middle of something

Etymology: "Staddling" is the present participle of "staddle," and the verb is a form of an older noun meaning a foundation or base. In Old English, "staþol" meant a foundation, base, support, or position, and it came down from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "position" or "standing," itself tracing back to an ancient Indo-European root for "to stand." The same root gives modern German "Stadel" and Middle Low German "stadel," both meaning a barn, a sense that reflects the storage platforms and sturdy bases on which farm buildings were once raised. In Middle English the noun became "stathel," and the word moved from the idea of a base or support toward the stand of trees, the sturdy foundations that held up a haystack or a granary. English "staddle" kept that sense of a supporting structure, and in its older agricultural uses it referred to such supports and their arrangement rather than to any single building.