Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Wet, drenched, or messy.
- adjective Being in a condition of deterioration; dilapidated.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
wet andlimp ;unkempt - adjective
decaying ,decrepit ordilapidated - verb Simple past tense and past participle of
bedraggle .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective in deplorable condition
- adjective limp and soiled as if dragged in the mud
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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If you look up the word bedraggled in the dictionary, there will be an image of my 4 rain soaked scrawny birds, standing on one foot, so close together they look attached.
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Every time I saw her getting homelier and kind of bedraggled like, I said to myself, well, I've saved Peter from that at any rate.
The Lovely Lady Mary Hunter Austin 1901
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The Irish News was quick to replace the loss of Susan McKay with the equally impressive columnist, Fionnuala O'Connor, author of 'first article, she examines the possible repercussions of the British Conservative Party's link-up with the' bedraggled 'link of Unionism, Reg Empey's Ulster Unionist Party, under the bizarre UCUNF label.
Slugger O'Toole 2009
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The Irish News was quick to replace the loss of Susan McKay with the equally impressive columnist, Fionnuala O'Connor, author of 'first article, she examines the possible repercussions of the British Conservative Party's link-up with the' bedraggled 'link of Unionism, Reg Empey's Ulster Unionist Party, under the bizarre UCUNF label.
Slugger O'Toole 2009
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The Irish News was quick to replace the loss of Susan McKay with the equally impressive columnist, Fionnuala O'Connor, author of 'first article, she examines the possible repercussions of the British Conservative Party's link-up with the' bedraggled 'link of Unionism, Reg Empey's Ulster Unionist Party, under the bizarre UCUNF label.
Slugger O'Toole 2009
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The Irish News was quick to replace the loss of Susan McKay with the equally impressive columnist, Fionnuala O'Connor, author of 'first article, she examines the possible repercussions of the British Conservative Party's link-up with the' bedraggled 'link of Unionism, Reg Empey's Ulster Unionist Party, under the bizarre UCUNF label.
Slugger O'Toole Dave Hartin 2009
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The Irish News was quick to replace the loss of Susan McKay with the equally impressive columnist, Fionnuala O'Connor, author of 'first article, she examines the possible repercussions of the British Conservative Party's link-up with the' bedraggled 'link of Unionism, Reg Empey's Ulster Unionist Party, under the bizarre UCUNF label.
Slugger O'Toole 2009
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The Irish News was quick to replace the loss of Susan McKay with the equally impressive columnist, Fionnuala O'Connor, author of 'first article, she examines the possible repercussions of the British Conservative Party's link-up with the' bedraggled 'link of Unionism, Reg Empey's Ulster Unionist Party, under the bizarre UCUNF label.
Slugger O'Toole 2009
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The Irish News was quick to replace the loss of Susan McKay with the equally impressive columnist, Fionnuala O'Connor, author of 'first article, she examines the possible repercussions of the British Conservative Party's link-up with the' bedraggled 'link of Unionism, Reg Empey's Ulster Unionist Party, under the bizarre UCUNF label.
Slugger O'Toole 2009
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I know there are some seniors who are kind of bedraggled and can't picture being vigorous enough to be Prez at 72, but there are an awful lot of seniors who resent the age jokes.
Latest Articles 2008
sonofgroucho commented on the word bedraggled
Sounds like it should accompany bewitched, bothered and bewildered.
October 14, 2007
reesetee commented on the word bedraggled
Talk about mispronouncing--when I was a kid, I thought this word was BED-raggled. I always wondered what raggling was and how a bed could do it to you.
October 14, 2007
sonofgroucho commented on the word bedraggled
Who's to say your previous pronunciation is wrong?
October 14, 2007
reesetee commented on the word bedraggled
Ah, SoG, you think like I do. This scares me.
October 14, 2007
Prolagus commented on the word bedraggled
"Four bedraggled porters came through the door, each one staggering under a huge load. They hauled a collection of trunks and large canvas bags."
Given that there is no reference to the luggage being wet or soiled anywhere in the chapter, and that these are the porters of a moody and tyrannical woman, am I right in assuming the word is used to mean something like "exhausted/in poor conditions"? Or maybe "covered in sweat"?
March 26, 2013
ruzuzu commented on the word bedraggled
Those definitions surprised me. In my mind it's definitely in the exhausted family--but exhausted the way a mouse is when a cat's been playing with it.
March 26, 2013
Prolagus commented on the word bedraggled
I'll go with something along the lines of "covered in sweat", then. There's an Italian word that incorporates both exhaustion and sweat. (Ew!)
Thanks! <3
March 26, 2013
yarb commented on the word bedraggled
I like reesetee's "bed-raggled". I can well imagine how an intense twelve-hour sleep could raggle a person, top to bottom.
March 27, 2013
fbharjo commented on the word bedraggled
B S & T (drag(gled) is the operative word.)
March 27, 2013
frogapplause commented on the word bedraggled
@Pro. What a tease. You tell us there is a word in Italian that incorporates both exhaustion and sweat, then you don't share it.
March 27, 2013
Prolagus commented on the word bedraggled
@Frog: madido di sudore!
March 27, 2013
rolig commented on the word bedraggled
Pro! First - Hi! It's been a long time.
Second: Is that any different from saying "drenched in sweat"?
Third: I always associate "bedraggled" with being wet, though being in a generally miserable-looking state is essential too. It would sound strange to me to say: "Gene Kelly was cheerfully bedraggled as he celebrated the joys of crooning in precipitation."
March 27, 2013
Prolagus commented on the word bedraggled
Hello to you!
You are right in that it means "drenched in sweat"; this particular word for "drenched", however, is hardly ever used in any context other than that of exhaustion. That's what I meant - it seems to incorporate both senses of bedraggled in the mind of an Italian reader.
March 27, 2013
rolig commented on the word bedraggled
Thanks, Pro! It's interesting how some words are only used in certain contexts.
March 28, 2013