draggle

[ drag-uh l ]

/ ˈdræg əl /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR draggle ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), drag·gled, drag·gling.

to soil by dragging over damp ground or in mud.

verb (used without object), drag·gled, drag·gling.

to trail on the ground; be or become draggled.

to follow slowly; straggle.

RELATED WORDS

pull, drag, tow, bedraggle

Nearby words

Origin of draggle

First recorded in 1490–1500; drag + -le

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for draggle

I have nothing to do with such milk-sop organizations, or the donkeys that draggle at their heels.
Eventide|Effie Afton
Still, somewhere under the huddle and draggle of it all burned on the human soul.
The Way of a Man|Emerson Hough
A few feet from the coach the water appeared to deepen, and the bear-skin to draggle.
Jeff Briggs's Love Story|Bret Harte
She feels it due to this same principle to draggle her skirts through the mud, to get her feet wet, and to come home an "object."
The Champagne Standard|Mrs. John Lane

It goes right hard with her to draggle her skirts in the dewy strawberry beds; but she feels consoled when I fetch up the till!
Idle Hour Stories|Eugenia Dunlap Potts

British Dictionary definitions for draggle

draggle

/ (ˈdræɡəl) /

verb

to make or become wet or dirty by trailing on the ground; bedraggle

(intr) to lag; dawdle

Word Origin for draggle

C16: probably frequentative of drag

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for draggle

draggle

1510s, frequentative of drag (v.). This led to draggle-tail "sloppy woman, woman whose skirts are wet and draggled" (1590s). Related: Draggled.