bedraggle

American  

[bih-drag-uhl] / bɪˈdræg əl /

verb (used with object)

bedraggled, bedraggling

1. to make limp and soiled, as with rain or dirt.

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bedraggle British  

/ bɪˈdræɡəl /

verb

1. (tr) to make (hair, clothing, etc) limp, untidy, or dirty, as with rain or mud

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Etymology

Origin of bedraggle

First recorded in 1720–30; be- + draggle

Explanation

Bedraggle is a verb that means to make disheveled, wet, and dirty. Rain and mud bedraggle children who go tromping through the outdoors in their dressiest clothes right before family pictures. Bedraggle is a word that was probably very common in the early 1700s when people started using it. If a lady walked along the old, unpaved streets, it would bedraggle the bottom of her hoop skirt, and a gentleman might have set his coat down for her to walk on. Today we're more likely to use verbs like drench or soil instead, and, for the most part, to wear more sensible clothes.

Example Sentences

But no blast can chill its wings, no mire bedraggle, or rude touch fray.

From Sister Dolorosa and Posthumous Fame by Allen, James Lane

Instead of cultivating your graces you bedraggle them with labor!

From For Gold or Soul? The Story of a Great Department Store by Sheldon, Lurana W.

But Mathews had no Judge Lawlack to bedraggle justice for his sake.

From The Squatter and the Don by Loyal, C.

Here in town, she probably preferred to tread the extent of the two drawing-rooms, and measure out the miles by spaces of forty feet, rather than bedraggle her skirts over the sloppy pavements.

From The Blithedale Romance by Hawthorne, Nathaniel

Related Words

• besmirch
• contaminate
• debase
• degrade
• muddy
• pollute
• smear
• smudge
• sully
• taint
• tar
• tarnish