straggle Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a wandering or disorderly grouping (of things or persons)
- a straggle of outbuildings
- a straggle of followers
verb wander from a direct or straight course
digress; depart; sidetrack.
verb go, come, or spread in a rambling or irregular way
sprawl.
- Branches straggling out quite far

Freq. of OE. straken to roam, to stroke. See Stroke, v. t.

imperfect & past participle Straggled ; present participle & verbal noun Straggling

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.
To wander at large; to roam idly about; to ramble.
The wolf spied out a straggling kid. L'Estrange.
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.
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.