draggle

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ-

Proto-Indo-European *dʰrógʰ-e-ti

Proto-Germanic *draganą

Proto-West Germanic *dragan

Old English dragan

Middle English dragen

Middle English draggen

Low German draggeinflu.

English drag

Proto-Germanic *-lōną

Old English -lian

Middle English -len

English -le

English draggle

From drag + -le.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɹæɡəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

draggle (third-person singular simple present draggles, present participle draggling, simple past and past participle draggled)

1. To make, or to become, wet and muddy by dragging along the ground.
   • 1844, Richard Chenevix Trench, “The Herring Fishers of Lockfynk”, in The Story of Justin Martyr: Sabbation and Other Poems:

     […] with draggled nets down-hanging to the tide […]

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Chapter 22”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     The rain drove into the bride and bridegroom's faces as they passed to the chariot. The postilions' favours draggled on their dripping jackets.

   • 1883, Adele Marion Fielde, “拖 (thoa)”, in A pronouncing and defining dictionary of the Swatow dialect, arranged according to syllables and tones, Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, page 593:

     [If] it be too long it draggles on the ground and gets under foot and is very troublesome.

Derived terms

• bedraggle
• bedraggled
• draggle-tail
• draggle-tailed

Anagrams

• gargled, raggled