straddle
pronunciation
How to pronounce straddle in British English:
UK [ˈstrædl]
How to pronounce straddle in American English:
US [ˈstrædl]
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- Noun:
- a noncommittal or equivocal position
- a gymnastic exercise performed with the legs straddling the parallel bars
- the act of sitting or standing astride
- the option to buy or sell a given stock (or stock index or commodity future) at a given price before a given date; consists of an equal number of put and call options
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- Verb:
- sit or stand astride of
- range or extend over; occupy a certain area
- be noncommittal
Word Origin
- straddle
- straddle: see stride
- straddle (v.)
- 1560s, "spread the legs wide," probably an alteration of striddle (mid-15c.), frequentative of striden (see stride (v.)). Transitive sense "place one leg on one side of and the other on the other side of" is from 1670s. U.S. colloquial figurative sense of "take up an equivocal position, appear to favor both sides" is attested from 1838. Related: Straddled; straddling. The noun is first recorded 1610s.
Synonym
Example
- 1. Straddle him on top and slide your legs straight out and forward , so that your feet are on either side of his shoulders .
- 2. Mr hollande likes to straddle both sides : as his europe minister puts it , france is the hyphen in europe 's north-south division .
- 3. As for politically blithe china , it cannot assume that agnosticism is its best strategy for resource security -- it , too , must recalculate , and probably take an unaccustomed political position rather than straddle the fence .