To spread out is to move apart so as to cover more ground. Spread out and search, spread out across the field, the town spread out below.
It is what a search party is told to do and what a map does when you open it. Of a payment it means to divide over time, and of a person it means to occupy more room than necessary.
1phrasespread outTo move apart so as to cover more ground.
“The coach told the players to spread out and use the whole width of the pitch.”
spread out is a scattering.
An analytic form of the older verb outspread.
Analytic form of earlier outspread.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Phrasal Verbs