straggle
verb (used without object)
to spread or be spread in a scattered fashion or at irregular intervals.
had straggled
-
past perfectof straggle.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Not long before, the miners, their faces smudged a ghastly grey, had straggled wearily up the shafts.
From Time Magazine Archive
Yet one final, unlisted event was under way well before the last athletes had straggled out of Olympic Village.
From Time Magazine Archive
Within 20 days all but Haugland and the navigator had straggled in.
From Time Magazine Archive
Nursing every shot, Cotton reached the turn in 35, to learn that Whitcombe had straggled in with 76 for a total of 292.
From Time Magazine Archive
They had been moving in a group, or trying to: actually, they had straggled widely at times.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
