become ragged

Federer on Tuesday stopped short of criticising Verdasco – acknowledging that nerves can become ragged in competition – but he did stress the need for respect.

Federer on Tuesday stopped short of criticizing Verdasco — acknowledging that nerves can become ragged in competition — but he did stress the need to respect ball kids.

Against Bell, a bowler can maintain some semblance of self-respect; against Pietersen, he can easily become ragged.

The rib bones are another resource � in young children, the tips of the ribs that connect with cartilage are relatively flat, but as a person ages, says Sinclair, "these endpoints become ragged and the cartilage is pitted."

Another fancy of his was to have all those books of lesser value, which had become ragged and dirty, covered, or rather bound, in colored cotton prints, for the sake of making them clean and respectable in their appearance, it being impossible to afford the cost of having so many put into better bindings.