straggle

English

Etymology

From Middle English straglen, of uncertain origin.

Verb

straggle (third-person singular simple present straggles, present participle straggling, simple past and past participle straggled)

1. To stray from the road, course or line of march.

   He straggled away from the crowd and went off on his own.

2. To wander about; ramble.
3. To spread at irregular intervals.
   • 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, The Dust of Conflict^[1]:

     Then there was no more cover, for they straggled out, not in ranks but clusters, from among orange trees and tall, flowering shrubs […] .

Derived terms

• (noun) straggler
• (adjective) stragglingly

Translations

to stray from the road

• Finnish: eksyä (fi)

• Maori: tūtārere (mi)

to wander about

• Finnish: kuljeksia (fi)

to spread at irregular intervals

• Finnish: levitellä (fi)

Noun

straggle (plural straggles)

1. The act of straggling.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Carlyle to this entry?)