draggle-tail

[ drag-uhl-teyl ]

noun

1. slut; slattern.

Word History and Origins

Origin of draggle-tail¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; draggle + tail ¹

Example Sentences

She moved towards the door, with her draggle-tail of infants.

From Project Gutenberg

She hasn't a penny, and goes about tattered, a draggle-tail, and sells her birthright for a handful of cold potatoes.

From Project Gutenberg

Turning to Goldsmith the man, what the "draggle-tail Muses" paid him we find him spending on dress and rooms and jovial magnificence, on relatives or countrymen or the unknown poor, with such freedom that he is never relieved of the necessity of drudgery.

From Project Gutenberg

He doesn't know 'The Draggle-tail Gypsies,' nor yet 'Barbara Allen,' nor yet 'I'll Make You a Present of a Coach and Six;' but I'm going to sing 'em to him some day.

From Project Gutenberg

The boy sang with the charming sweetness so common among the Africans, and once, after listening, duster in hand, in spite of herself, for a quarter of an hour, as he carolled over the dishes he was washing in his pantry, she went so far as to appear at his pantry door to ask, briefly, if he knew a favorite song of her youth, "The Draggle-tail Gypsies, Oh!"

From Project Gutenberg