octopusing

Verb

octopus (third-person singular simple present octopusses or octopuses, present participle octopussing or octopusing, simple past and past participle octopussed or octopused)

1. To put (or attempt to put) one's fingers, hands or arms in many things or places at roughly the same time.
   • He rises up on his wasted legs, the healer's hands octopussed on his head.1994, Susan Ketchin, The Christ-haunted Landscape
2. To spread out in long arms or legs in many directions.
   • The bug-eyed press octopussed to their respective word processors.1995, Donald A. Weatherby, The Star-Spangled Specter, page 105
3. To plug a large number of devices into a single electric outlet.
   • If they're all for a single indoor tree, caution against "octopusing" of cords from other cords, and the use of a number of cords in a single receptacle.1963, Hardware Age - Volume 203, Issues 7-10, page 88
4. (broadly) To grow in use vastly beyond what was originally intended.
   • The interlocking business organizations have octopussed beyond all imagining in recent years; they are intermingled with citizens' union-smashing committees and women's strikebreaking “patriotic” groups, such as Neutral Thousands and Women of the Pacific.1937, Fight Against War and Fascism - Volumes 5-6, page 34
5. To hunt and catch octopuses.
   • The sport could be called octopusing or octopus hunting— and any number may play. Supposing you catch an octopus, what do you have?1956, Travel - Volume 105, page 46
6. To behave like an octopus.
   • Night fell especially dark and cold for August, inky blackness tendrilling in, octopussing even the street lamps, now dim with vague form.1995, Donald A. Weatherby, The Star-Spangled Specter, page 77

See all 12 meanings of octopus