straggler

American  

[strag-ler] / ˈstræg lər /

noun

1. a person or thing that lags behind others.

   We’re waiting for a few stragglers, but all entries must be in by Wednesday, March 4th.

2. a person, animal, ship, etc., that wanders around or strays from a path or course.

   The French steamer Tourny, a straggler from its convoy, was sunk by a German U-boat.

   There was a wood quail just 5 yards away on the trail, presumably a straggler from the covey.

3. one of a number of persons or things scattered thinly or at irregular intervals in space or time.

   I didn’t see too many weeds in the garden—just two or three stragglers.

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Etymology

Origin of straggler

First recorded in 1525–35; straggle ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. )

Explanation

If you're a straggler, you tend to dawdle at the very back of a group, often becoming separated from them because you're moving so slowly. Stragglers are constantly in danger of missing the bus. A straggler is the last person to leave a party, lingering to finish their cake and wander around looking for their coat. On a field trip, chaperones worry about losing stragglers who keep wandering away from the group. Straggler and straggle probably share a root with the Norwegian stragla, "walk laboriously." In astronomy, a blue straggler is an unusually luminous star originally believed to have formed later than the other stars in its cluster.

Example Sentences

Backstory: Before he made movies, Hawkes sang and played guitar in an 1980s punk band called Meat Joy, followed by Gangster Folk and King Straggler.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 13, 2024

To Straggler Bailey of North Carolina, Commerce Committee chairman, the neutrality bill's virtual erasure of the U. S. merchant marine is a major and unnecessary tragedy.

From Time Magazine Archive

The opposite bank of the river displayed a sandy country covered with dark scrub; and beyond this was the sea, with a view of Rottnest and the Straggler rocks.

From The Bushman — Life in a New Country by Landor, Edward Wilson

How pleased, when down the Straggler sank Beside her, on some sunny bank!

From The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Volume IV (of 8) by Wordsworth, William

"The Straggler," by Philip A. Bell, New York, out of which the Colored American took its origin.

From The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States by Delany, Martin Robison