bedraggle

American  

[bih-drag-uhl] / bɪˈdræg əl /

verb (used with object)

bedraggled, bedraggling

1. to make limp and soiled, as with rain or dirt.

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bedraggle British  

/ bɪˈdræɡəl /

verb

1. (tr) to make (hair, clothing, etc) limp, untidy, or dirty, as with rain or mud

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Etymology

Origin of bedraggle

First recorded in 1720–30; be- + draggle

Explanation

Bedraggle is a verb that means to make disheveled, wet, and dirty. Rain and mud bedraggle children who go tromping through the outdoors in their dressiest clothes right before family pictures. Bedraggle is a word that was probably very common in the early 1700s when people started using it. If a lady walked along the old, unpaved streets, it would bedraggle the bottom of her hoop skirt, and a gentleman might have set his coat down for her to walk on. Today we're more likely to use verbs like drench or soil instead, and, for the most part, to wear more sensible clothes.

Example Sentences

Bedraggle, be-drag′l, v.t. to soil by dragging in the wet or dirt—most common, the p.adj.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

Related Words

• besmirch
• contaminate
• debase
• degrade
• muddy
• pollute
• smear
• smudge
• sully
• taint
• tar
• tarnish