What does "straggle" mean?
Straggle: To wander at large; to roam idly about; to ramble. The wolf spied out a straggling kid. L'Estrange.
Additional senses
- 2.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. Trim off the small, superfluous branches on each side of the hedge that straggle too far out. Mortimer.
- 3.To be dispersed or separated; to occur at intervals. "Straggling pistol shots." Sir W. Scott. They came between Scylla and Charybdis and the straggling rocks. Sir W. Raleigh.
- 4.The act of straggling. [R.] Carlyle.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00