| 释义 |
▪ I. ragged, a.1|ˈrægɪd|
Forms: α. 3–5 ragget, 5 -eth, 4–9 Sc. -it, 6 -at; 4 raggede, (-ud, 4–5 -id, 5–6 -yd, 6 -ued), 6 wragged, 3– ragged. β. 5 ragyt, 5–6 -it; 4–6 raged, (5 -ud, 5–6 -yd). γ. 6 ragd(e, 6–7 rag'd, 8–9 north. dial. ragg'd, raggt.
[f. rag n.1 + -ed; but the early uses (senses 1 and 2) are not directly based on the prominent sense of the n., and may have retained an older and more general meaning of the word (cf. raggy, and Norw. ragget shaggy).]
I.
1. a. Of animals, their fur, etc.: Rough, shaggy, hanging in tufts.
13..K. Alis. 684 His men him brought..A grisly best, a ragged colt. Ibid. 4471 A raggid wolf. a1400Octouian 839 That fole, Raggeth, and hegh, and long of swere. c1450Arth. & Merl. L 1585 (Kölbing) His tayle was ragged [v.r. raggud] as a feond. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb. 5 My ragged rontes all shiver and shake. 1697Dryden Virg. Past. iii. 1 What Shepherd owns those ragged Sheep? 1786Burns Dream xi, Aft a ragged cowte's been known To mak a noble aiver. 1791‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. (1809) Pref. 55 To preserve a ragged flock of sheep from the rot. 1859Kingsley Misc. (1860) II. 237 A pair of ragged ponies.
†b. Of the Devil or devils, imagined as shaggy like beasts. Obs. (Cf. ragamuffin, ragman1.)
a1300in Map's Poems (Camden) 338 A thousend develene..thei weren ragged, roue, and tayled. c1320Langtoft Chron. (Rolls) II. 248 The devel I them bikenne That ragged sit in helle. c1460Towneley Myst. viii. 414 Help! the raggyd dwyll, we drowne!
c. Of birds: Having the feathers broken, or irregularly disposed. rare.
1508Dunbar Flyting 57 Revin, raggit ruke, and full of rebaldrie. 1611Cotgr., Faulcon halbrené, a Faulcon thats ragged, or broken-feathered.
2. Of a rough, irregular, or straggling form; having a broken jagged outline or surface; full of rough or sharp projections.
a. of roots, branches, plants, trees, etc.
13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 745 With roȝe raged mosse. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. x. 120 Out of a ragged roote and of rouwe breres. 1390Gower Conf. II. 177 That was to day a ragged tre, To morwe..Stant in the temple wel besein. c1470Gol. & Gaw. 854 As roise ragit on rise. 1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. iv. 104 The ragged Bramble With thousand scratches doth their Skin bescramble. 1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 195 Rosemary thrives better by cutting off the Sprigs, than by ragged slips. 1794Cowper Needless Alarm 14 Wide yawns a gulf beside a ragged thorn. 1860Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. vi. x. §12. 97 Leaves rent into alternate gaps..give the expression to foreground vegetation which we feel and call ‘ragged’.
b. of stones, rocks, cliffs, buildings, etc.
c1400Destr. Troy 12559 Roches full rogh, ragget with stones. c1435Torr. Portugal 194 Ther lay a gret Ragyd ston. 1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 120 One may..weare the precious Diamonde though he dispise the ragged bricke. 1595Spenser Col. Clout 114 That auncient Cittie..Whose ragged ruines breed great ruth. 1632Lithgow Trav. x. 447 [Toledo] is situate on a ragged Rocke. 1695J. Edwards Perfect. Script. 285 This ragged pile was of much antienter date. 1742Collins Ecl. iv. 19 Yon ragged cliff, whose dang'rous path we tried. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xviii. 128 I descended..through a second ragged fissure.
c. of a stretch of ground or country.
1555Eden Decades 350 The toppe of the mountayne sheweth very ragged. 1607J. Norden Surv. Dial. v. 203 Euen the best meddowes will become ragged and full of unprofitable weeds, if it bee not cut and eaten. 1697W. Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 256 To the West of this ragged Land is a Chain of Mountains. 1796E. Parsons Myst. Warning III. 188 A ragged and unfrequented part of the hill. 1867Trollope Chron. Barset II. l. 65 A path led through a ragged garden.
d. of other things.
a1400–50Alexander 5133 Rynoseros, a roghe best with raggid tyndis. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iv. iv. 31 Herne the Hunter..with great rag'd-hornes. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 53 A right line either printed or drawn never so neatly upon paper appears all ragged, indented, and discontinued. 1821Shelley Prometh. Unb. iii. ii, Through the thick ragged skirts Of the victorious darkness. 1873Black Pr. Thule vii. 112 The wind sent ragged bits of yellow cloud across the shining blue.
†e. absol. as n. The rough part, roughness.
a1300Ancr. R. 284 note (MS. C.), Þe file fret of þe irn þe rust & tet ragget, & makeð hit hwit & smeðe.
3. transf. of immaterial things (in some cases perh. directly associated with sense 5):
a. Faulty, imperfect, irregular.
c1500Priests of Peblis 1044, I am red that my count be ovir raggit. 1579E. K. Ded. Spenser's Sheph. Cal. ⁋ij, Theyr rough sounde would make his rymes more ragged and rustical. 1621Quarles Argalus & P. (1678) 110 Aid me and inspire My ragged rhimes, with thy diviner fire. a1864Hawthorne Eng. Note-bks. (1879) I. 133 Uttering one rough, ragged, and shapeless sentence after another. 1888Mrs. H. Ward R. Elsmere iv. xxx, His work..He saw it all as the merest nothing, a ragged beginning. 1894Times 6 Mar. 7/2 Began to row at 33 strokes a minute. The work was done in ragged fashion.
b. Of sounds: Harsh, discordant, rough.
1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. v. 15 My voice is ragged; I know I cannot please you. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Redemption, I heard a ragged noise and mirth Of Theeves and Murderers. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge viii, A voice as ragged as the head.
4. Her. = raguly.
1562Leigh Armorie (1597) 31 b, He beareth Geules, a long crosse ragged and trunked Argent. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Raguled, Ragged differs from indented, in that the latter is regular, and the former not.
II.
5. a. Of cloth, garments, etc.: Rent, torn, frayed, in rags.
c1325Alexis 155 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 177 Full raggid and riuen wase his clathis. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 33 Recchelesnes stode forth in ragged clothes. c1400Destr. Troy 13525 A Roket full rent, and Ragget aboue. 1567Add. MS. 6167, lf. 203 b, in Gross Gild Merch. II. 92 Which booke is so ragged, torne, and rent one peece from another. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, iv. ii. 41 Their ragged Curtaines poorely are let loose. 1709Steele Tatler No. 37 ⁋3 Are your Petticoats ragged? 1745Pococke Descr. East II. i. 166 Their sheik..came out to us in a ragged habit of green silk, lined with fur. 1870Dickens E. Drood i, He draws back the ragged curtain.
b. Of places: Dilapidated, broken-down. rare.
1805Wordsw. Prelude iii. 465 Ragged villages and crazy huts. 1851S. Judd Margaret xv. 124 A small, low, ragged room.
6. Of persons: Wearing ragged clothes; dressed in rags. Hence of appearance, etc. Also of mood or condition: tired, run-down. Colloq. phr. to run (one) ragged (orig. U.S.): to exhaust or debilitate (a person).
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xlvi. (Anastas) 186 Fra þat place þan vald he ga, raggit & rent & blak alswa. c1530Court of Love 478 To wander lich a dulled ass, Ragged and torne, disgysed in array. 1570Golding Justin xxviii. 127 No better but a sort of ragged Shepeheardes. 1642Vicars God in Mount (1644) 78 A ragged regiment of malignant and ill-affected persons. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxi. III. 215 A swarm of dirty and ragged plebeians. 1850L. Hunt Autobiog. xx. 319 These coadjutors were..the raggedest fellows in Genoa. 1876Besant & Rice Gold. Butterfly Prol. ii, He was in no way discomfited by any sense of false shame as to his ragged appearance. 1925New Yorker 5 Sept. 10/3 This eighteen-year-old youngster ran Bill Johnston, the Californian, ragged. 1951W. Stevens Let. 26 Mar. (1967) 712 This is simply typical of the sort of thing that runs one ragged. 1969M. Pugh Last Place Left xxix. 213 Sorry, sir, I'm pretty ragged. Is Miss Drummond okay? 1970A. Draper Swansong for Rare Bird v. 35 We really ran the teachers ragged. 1977P. Hill Liars (1978) iii. 36 All four of them were now feeling mentally ragged.
7. Combs. and phrases, as ragged-edged, ragged-looking adjs.; † ragged-apples (see quot.); ragged edge U.S. slang: in phr. on (also in) the ragged edge, on the extreme edge or verge; also transf., in a state of distress or resourcelessness; ragged hip, in a horse: a hip standing away from the backbone (hence ragged-hipped adj.); ragged-jacket, † regiment (see quots.); ragged r (see quots.); Ragged Robert (see quot.); ragged school, a free school for children of the poorest class. See also ragged robin, ragged staff.
1601Holland Pliny xv. xiv. 438 The *ragged-apples Pannucea take this name, for that of all others they soonest be riveld.
1885N.Y. Mercury 10 Jan. 4/7 It seems fair to assume that father, daughter and her child sailed yesterday for Paris, leaving poor Tom on the *ragged edge. 1889‘Mark Twain’ Connecticut Yankee xvi. 196 He was always on the ragged edge of apprehension. 1892― Amer. Claimant ii. 28 It was away out in the ragged edge of Washington and had once been somebody's country place. 1935A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 84/1 On the ragged edge, slight chance to make good; down and out.
1916‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 164 The face of one house was marked by a huge splash, with solid centre and a *ragged-edged outline of radiating jerky rays.
1799Sporting Mag. XIV. 185 The goose-rump as well as the *ragged hip [is] another angular infringement of Hogarth's curve of beauty.
1843Youatt Horse xvii. 353 Many a *ragged-hipped horse has possessed both fleetness and strength. 1898J. A. Gibbs Cotswold Village 345 Well ribbed up, he is at the same time rather ‘ragged-hipped’.
1884Goode Usef. Aquatic Anim. 62 The young [of the Harp Seal] when first born, are called by the Newfoundland sealers ‘White-coats’; later, during the first molt, ‘*Ragged-jackets’.
1833F. Witts Diary 8 Apr. (1978) 91 One tract of common over which we passed is called Coalpit⁓heath, a *ragged-looking spot. 1884‘H. Collingwood’ (W. J. C. Lancaster) Under Meteor Flag 3 Dull, dirty, ragged-looking clouds.
1755J. Smith Printer's Gram. iv. 117 Black letter..has two different r's, one of which is called the *ragged r [{ragr}], and is particularly used after letters that round off behind. 1969H. Carter View of Early Typogr. iii. 62 The ragged r—the r that followed letters that had once been round.
1770in Archæologia I. 37 note This table of pictures is fixed over the press [in Westminster Abbey] wherein the effigies of the kings vulgarly called, The *ragged regiment, are placed.
1765Layard in Phil. Trans. LVI. 18 The herb Geranium Robertianum, commonly called *Ragged Robert.
1843Times 18 Feb. 1/3 Advt. [headed] ‘*Ragged Schools’. 1847Cockburn Jrnl. II. 172 There was a public meeting here on the 9th instant [April] in favour of what are now called ‘ragged schools’.
Hence ˈraggedish a., somewhat ragged.
1837New Monthly Mag. XLIX. 235 A large, rather raggedish, arm-chair.
Add:[2.] [d.] spec. in Typogr., of a right-hand margin: uneven; = unjustified ppl. a. 3 b; hence ragged right, an unjustified right-hand margin or a piece of text set with this; also as advb. phr., (set) in this style.
1949Melcher & Larrick Printing & Promotion Handbk. 131/1 The lines of this paragraph have been deliberately left unjustified..presenting a ragged appearance at the right-hand edge. 1961Webster 1875/1 Ragged,..uneven—used of the ends of lines of text in printing. 1966Gloss. Automated Typesetting & Related Computer Terms (Composition Information Services, Los Angeles) (ed. 2) 102 Unjustified type: usually denotes any typeset matter which is characterized by an uneven or ragged right-hand margin. 1969Chicago Man. Style (ed. 12) xix. 441 The left edge is even—that is, each line begins directly under the line above—but the right edge runs ragged (ragged right, the designer calls it). 1979G. A. Glaister Gloss. Bk. (ed. 2) 409/1 Ragged setting may be more troublesome than straight setting since it has its own rules, such as the avoidance of hyphenated line endings. 1980C. Burke Printing Poetry iii. 32 Some..of the problems in a prose setting can be obviated by setting it ‘ragged right’, that is by leaving the right-hand margin unjustified.
▪ II. ragged, a.2 (or pple.) dial.|rægd|
[Of obscure origin; connexion with prec. is not clear.]
Covered with fruit; thickly laden.
1661Hickeringill Jamaica 16 A sort of Cabbage trees, rag'd with berries. a1796Pegge Derbicisms Ser. i. 1877–In dial. glossaries (Yks., Linc.).
▪ III. ragged, ppl. a.1|rægd|
[f. rag v.3]
Subjected to the process of ragging (vbl. n.3).
1875Ure's Dict. Arts II. 76 In the process of cobbing, either ragged or spalled work.
▪ IV. ragged, ppl. a.2|rægd|
[f. rag v.2]
That has suffered ragging, teasing, or annoyance.
1903Westm. Gaz. 11 May 6/2 The ‘ragged’ officer was allowed leave of absence and has not yet returned to duty.
▪ V. ragged, ppl. a.3|rægd|
[f. rag v.5]
Of music: that has been converted to ragtime.
1956G. P. Kurath in A. F. C. Wallace Men & Cultures (1960) 155 They represent the following steps:..Two-step (ragged). 1958C. Wilford in P. Gammond Decca Bk. Jazz ii. 40 Ragtime lives on in jazz, for all jazz is based on ragtime, though it is true some parts are more ragged than others. |