(French) "on horseback", sitting or standing with the legs spread wide, astride
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A cheval Definition from Language, Idioms & Slang Dictionaries & Glossaries
a cheval
\a` che*val"\ (?). [f., lit., on horseback.] astride; with a part on each side; -- used specif. in designating the position of an army with the wings separated by some line of demarcation, as a river or road. a position à cheval on a river is not one which a general willingly assumes. --swinton.
