%ragg%

n. [ From Braggadocchio, a boastful character in Spenser's “Faërie Queene.” ] 1. A braggart; a boaster; a swaggerer. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Empty boasting; mere brag; pretension. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Braggart. ] Boastfulness; act of bragging. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. bragard flaunting, vain, bragging. See Brag, v. i. ] A boaster. [ 1913 Webster ]

O, I could play the woman with mine eyes,
And braggart with my tongue. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Boastful. -- Brag"gart*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. One who brags; a boaster. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. braket, bragot, fr. W. bragawd, bragod, fr. brag malt. ] A liquor made of ale and honey fermented, with spices, etc. [ Obs. ] B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Boastingly. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of crags, or steep, broken rocks; abounding with prominences, points, and inequalities; rough; rugged. [ 1913 Webster ]

Into its cragged rents descend. J. Baillie. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being cragged; cragginess. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being craggy. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of crags; rugged with projecting points of rocks; as, the craggy side of a mountain. “The craggy ledge.” Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. painfully or tediously slow and boring; as, the dragging minutes. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. i. To be dragged on the ground; to become wet or dirty by being dragged or trailed in the mud or wet grass. Hudibras. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Draggled p. pr. & vb. n. Draggling ] [ Freq. of drag. √73. Cf. Drawl. ] To wet and soil by dragging on the ground, mud, or wet grass; to drabble; to trail. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

With draggled nets down-hanging to the tide. Trench. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. limp and soiled as if dragged in the mud.
Syn. -- bedraggled. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A slattern who suffers her gown to trail in the mire; a drabble-tail. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Untidy; sluttish; slatternly. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ From Rag, n. ] 1. Rent or worn into tatters, or till the texture is broken; as, a ragged coat; a ragged sail. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Broken with rough edges; having jags; uneven; rough; jagged; as, ragged rocks. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence, harsh and disagreeable to the ear; dissonant. [ R. ] “A ragged noise of mirth.” Herbert. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Wearing tattered clothes; as, a ragged fellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Rough; shaggy; rugged. [ 1913 Webster ]

What shepherd owns those ragged sheep? Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ragged lady (Bot.), the fennel flower (Nigella Damascena). --
Ragged robin (Bot.), a plant of the genus Lychnis (Lychnis Flos-cuculi), cultivated for its handsome flowers, which have the petals cut into narrow lobes. --
Ragged sailor (Bot.), prince's feather (Polygonum orientale). --
Ragged school, a free school for poor children, where they are taught and in part fed; -- a name given at first because they came in their common clothing. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Rag"ged*ly, adv. -- Rag"ged*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ Cf. F. raguer to chafe, fret, rub, or E. rag. ] (Her.) Notched in regular diagonal breaks; -- said of a line, or a bearing having such an edge. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ or }, a. Ragged; rough. [ Obs. ] “A stony and raggie hill.” Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Rough with irregular points, or a broken surface; scraggy; as, a scragged backbone. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Lean and rough; scraggy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Quality or state of being scragged. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a scraggy manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being scraggy; scraggedness. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Compar. Scragger superl. Scraggiest. ] 1. Rough with irregular points; scragged. “A scraggy rock.” J. Philips. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Lean and rough; scragged. “His sinewy, scraggy neck.” Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who lops; one who trims trees. [ Obs. ] Huloet. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 ]

n. The act of straggling. [ R. ] Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who straggles, or departs from the direct or proper course, or from the company to which he belongs; one who falls behind the rest; one who rambles without any settled direction. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A roving vagabond. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Something that shoots, or spreads out, beyond the rest, or too far; an exuberant growth. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let thy hand supply the pruning knife,
And crop luxuriant stragglers. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Something that stands alone or by itself. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. & n. from Straggle, v. [ 1913 Webster ]