Straggle

Straggle
Straggle Strag"gle, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Straggled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Straggling}.] [Freq. of OE. straken to roam, to stroke. See {Stroke}, v. t.] 1. To wander from the direct course or way; to rove; to stray; to wander from the line of march or desert the line of battle; as, when troops are on the march, the men should not straggle. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

2. To wander at large; to roam idly about; to ramble. [1913 Webster]

The wolf spied out a straggling kid. --L'Estrange. [1913 Webster]

3. To escape or stretch beyond proper limits, as the branches of a plant; to spread widely apart; to shoot too far or widely in growth. [1913 Webster]

Trim off the small, superfluous branches on each side of the hedge that straggle too far out. --Mortimer. [1913 Webster]

4. To be dispersed or separated; to occur at intervals. ``Straggling pistol shots.'' --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]

They came between Scylla and Charybdis and the straggling rocks. --Sir W. Raleigh. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • Straggle — Strag gle, n. The act of straggling. [R.] Carlyle. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • straggle — index spread Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • straggle — (v.) c.1400, to wander from the proper path, to rove from one s companions, perhaps from a Scandinavian source (Cf. dialectal Norw. stragla to walk laboriously ), or a frequentative of straken to move, go. Specifically of soldiers from 1520s.… …   Etymology dictionary

  • straggle — [v] wander, stray be late, dawdle, drift, lag, loiter, maunder, meander, poke, poke around, ramble, range, roam, rove, scramble, spread, straddle, string out, tail, trail; concept 151 Ant. hurry, run, rush …   New thesaurus

  • straggle — ► VERB 1) trail slowly behind the person or people in front. 2) grow or spread out in an irregular, untidy way. ► NOUN ▪ an irregular and untidy group. DERIVATIVES straggler noun straggly adjective. ORIGIN …   English terms dictionary

  • straggle — [strag′əl] vi. straggled, straggling [ME straglen, prob. for * straklen, freq. of straken, to go about, wander, roam] 1. to stray from the path or course, or wander from the main group 2. to wander or be scattered over a wide area; ramble 3. to… …   English World dictionary

  • straggle — [ stræg(ə)l] ceaseless desperate fierce frantic internecine life and death straggle put up. wage a straggle unending unrelenting violent with for (a straggle against poverty; a straggle for justice; a straggle with one s conscience) …   Combinatory dictionary

  • straggle — strag|gle [ˈstrægəl] v [I] 1.) if the people in a group straggle somewhere, they go there fairly slowly and with large spaces between them straggle in/into/through etc ▪ The children were beginning to straggle in from the playground. straggle… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • straggle — [[t]stræ̱g(ə)l[/t]] straggles, straggling, straggled 1) VERB If people straggle somewhere, they move there slowly, in small groups with large, irregular gaps between them. [V prep/adv] They came straggling up the cliff road... [V prep/adv] The… …   English dictionary

  • straggle — UK [ˈstræɡ(ə)l] / US verb [intransitive] Word forms straggle : present tense I/you/we/they straggle he/she/it straggles present participle straggling past tense straggled past participle straggled 1) to grow or spread in an untidy way 2) to move… …   English dictionary

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