draggle

Much of the uproar, as the U.S. duly noted and compensated for, was due to the fact that the politicians caught in the bloody draggle of Suez needed a scapegoat.

From Time Magazine Archive

As most of the actors draggle through their paces, it is plain that Novac and friends could easily outwit the lot of them.

From Time Magazine Archive

And why, pray, does it draggle this fashion?

From The Eleven Comedies, Volume 2 by Aristophanes

The nice old maid near him turns away in disgust when she sees his moustaches draggle in the soup.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 19, May, 1859 by Various

To draggle; to soil, as garments which, in walking, are suffered to drag in dust, mud, etc.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Noah Webster

He cut a short pole at the water’s edge and drew from one of his pockets a bit of line and a draggled fly that had once been a royal coachman.

From Slate ● Nov. 25, 2018

Fifteen months later, a battered, be draggled ghost ship, the Wolf again dodged through the British blockade and limped home to her base.

From Time Magazine Archive

He could scarcely believe the sight before him—Rome’s beautiful princess, her hair dirty, tangled, and uncombed, her clothes draggled and torn, her face thin and wild.

From "Tiger, Tiger" by Lynne Reid Banks

Slowly the sky above grew lighter, and then suddenly the clouds broke, and their draggled fringes trailed away northward up the River.

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien

There’s a straggly line of people, adults and children, along the roadside among the draggled weeds.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

“We had to grow,” Alexandra hissed as she propped herself against the terminal, her dark hair a curtain draggling before her as she hung her head.

From The Verge ● Feb. 13, 2019

Brooding over them is the gaunt figure of the Gravedigger Captain in his draggling coat, explaining to Adam Ember that he took the job because he wanted to be on the side of victory.

From Time Magazine Archive

On an afternoon at this time a young girl entered the stone-mason's yard with some hesitation, and, lifting her skirts to avoid draggling them in the white dust, crossed towards the office.

From Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

Don't desecrate the verb to love by draggling it more than it has already been draggled through all the grammars of every European language.

From Strange Stories by Grant Allen

In spite of the draggling wet and clinging mud, the country people were out in force; but their gapes, their nudges and whispers, were as little to him as the falling rain.

From Checkers A Hard-luck Story by Henry M. Blossom