raggedn.
/ˈraɡᵻd/, U.S. /ˈræɡəd/ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > unevenness > [noun] > roughness > rough part, object, or feature
roughOE
ragged?c1225
roughnessa1398
ruba1616
asperity1662
chicken skin1897
?c1225 Ancrene Riwle (Cleo.: Scribe B) (1972) 209 Þe file fret of þe irn þe rust & tet ragget & Makeð hit hwit & smeðe.
1850 F. C. Skey Operative Surg. ii. 47 The resources of operative surgery may very properly be resorted to, in converting the ragged, into a clean edge, which shall be made perfectly to correspond with the opposite one.
2. With the and plural agreement: people who are ragged.
ΚΠ
1801 tr. J. H. Pestalozzi Leonard & Gertrude lviii. 188 This huge dog was the terror of the ragged throughout the whole neighbourhood.
1872 C. D. Warner Saunterings 255 But the seats would be filled with a motley gathering of the idle and the ragged.
1942 L. C. Douglas Robe (1999) xxi. 415 Tribute money extorted from the ragged and hungry.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
raggedadj.1
/ˈraɡᵻd/, U.S. /ˈræɡəd/α. Middle English raggede, Middle English ragget, Middle English raggeth, Middle English raggud, Middle English reaggeth, Middle English (1800s– English regional (Shropshire)) raggit, Middle English–1500s raggyd, Middle English–1600s (1800s U.S.) raggid, Middle English– ragged, late Middle English raggidde, 1500s raggued, 1600s wragged; Scottish pre-1700 raggat, pre-1700 raggid, pre-1700 raggyd, pre-1700 raggyt, pre-1700 1700s– ragged, pre-1700 1700s– raggit, 1700s– ragget.
β. late Middle English ragud, late Middle English ragut, late Middle English–1500s ragyd, late Middle English–1600s raged; Scottish pre-1700 ragit, pre-1700 ragyt.
γ. 1500s ragde, 1500s–1600s ragd, 1500s–1600s rag'd; English regional (northern) 1700s–1800s ragg'd, 1700s–1800s raggt.
I. Senses related to roughness of form.
1. † a. Of the Devil or a devil: rough or shaggy like an animal. Cf. ragamuffin n. 1, ragman n.2 1. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > a devil > [adjective]
raggyOE
unwighta1250
raggedc1300
fiendlyc1386
fiendfula1593
c1300 Body & Soul (Laud Misc. 108) (1889) 57 (MED) Thei [sc. devils] weren ragged, roue, and tayled.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. P. de Langtoft (Arms) (1839) 395 (MED) The devel I them bikenne, that ragged sit in helle.
c1450 in R. L. Greene Early Eng. Carols (1935) 308 (MED) We haddun yserued the reaggeth deuel of helle.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1897–1973) 77 (MED) Help! the raggyd dwyll, we drowne!
b. Of an animal or its coat: rough, shaggy, unkempt; with fur hanging in tufts.In proverbial use, in ragged colt n. a rough colt in need of taming.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > covering or skin > [adjective] > having a coat > rough-coated
ruggedc1330
raggeda1425
rough-coated1601
a1425 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Linc. Inn) (1952) 680 His men him brouȝt..Agrisly best, aragged [c1400 Laud rugged] colt.
c1450 MS Douce 52 in Festschrift zum XII. Neuphilologentage (1906) 53 (MED) Of a raggud colte comes a gode hors.
c1450 (a1375) Octavian (Calig.) (1979) 839 (MED) Þey..segh þat fole, Raggeth & hegh.
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Feb. 5 My ragged rontes all shiver and shake.
a1612 J. Harington Briefe View State Church of Eng. (1653) 129 Where the sheep be ragged, and the folds rotten, there I straight suppose is no very good shepheard.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Pastorals iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 10 What Shepherd owns those ragged Sheep?
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. 244 She has not interest..to bestow any kind of education on her children, who run about, like ragged colts, in a state of nature.
1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsemanship To Rdr. p. vi To preserve a ragged flock of sheep from the rot.
1859 C. Kingsley Misc. (1860) II. 237 A pair of ragged ponies.
1879 I. L. Bird Lady's Life Rocky Mts. x. 173 The average sheep is a leggy, ragged beast.
1900 H. Stewart Domest. Sheep 194 A hundred lambs were purchased... They were a ragged and poor lot then—lousy, ticky and ornamented with burrs.
1954 Times 14 Sept. 10/3 One could hear the cry of plover and curlew above the clop-clop of the horses' hooves, which sent the ragged sheep scrambling over the walls.
1980 Country Life 18 Dec. 2371/4 Vita, the ragged colt, will turn into a good horse.
2005 Monterey County (Calif.) Herald (Nexis) 31 Oct. Rescue groups..have converged on Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, relocating ragged cats and dogs.
c. Of a bird or winged creature: having broken, uneven, or irregularly disposed feathers; (also) designating such a feather.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > feather > [adjective] > having particular kind of
ragged?a1513
frizzled1567
bowdled1587
haggard1615
silky1781
a1513 W. Dunbar Flyting in Poems (1998) I. 202 Revin, raggit [a1586 riggit] ruke, and full of rebaldrie.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Faulcon halbrené, a Faulcon thats ragged, or broken-feathered.
1660 R. Howard Blind Lady iv. vi, in Poems 108 Love's wings are swifter, Swift wishes impe his ragged plumes.
1742 New Way of breeding Canary Birds 20 If any of your Bird's Tail Feathers are Ragged, or Stumpy, so as to have an Ugly Tail..You must Pull them Gently out, One by One.
1792 J. Leslie tr. Comte de Buffon Nat. Hist. Birds I. 271 Its face encircled with hairs, or rather small white ragged feathers, which terminate in the circumference of other small frizzled feathers.
1832 W. Irving Alhambra II. 78 The cabalistic raven, an old, mysterious, grey-headed bird, ragged in feather, with a film over one eye.
1853 E. Arnold Poems 59 The famished vultures by the failing spring Droop the foul beak and fold the ragged wing.
1974 Winnipeg Free Press 26 Dec. 35/5 He took a step toward the door and disturbed two ragged hens and a sleeping goat.
1998 B. Delinsky Coast Road vii. 145 He spotted a ragged bird hopping among the brush.
2. Having a rough, irregular, or uneven surface, edge, or outline; full of rough or sharp projections.
a. Of a root, branch, plant, etc. Cf. ragged staff n. 1.
ΚΠ
1387–8 Petition London Mercers in R. W. Chambers & M. Daunt Bk. London Eng. (1931) 36 (MED) It sheweth wel the rote of hem is a ragged subiect or stok inward, that is the forsaid Brere or brembre.
c1390 Pistel of Swete Susan (Vernon) 112 (MED) Columbyne and Charuwe clottes þei creue, With Ruwe and Rubarbe, Ragget ariht.
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 745 (MED) Þe hasel & þe haȝ-þorne were harled al samen, With roȝe raged mosse rayled ay-where.
c1450 in W. R. Dawson Leechbk. (1934) 310 (MED) Þis wodbynd leues be nat ragut, but they bene like a mannys hert.
1508 Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. cii* As roise ragit on rise.
1582 S. Batman Vppon Bartholome, De Proprietatibus Rerum xvii. i. f. 271v Some [trees] haue clouen and ragged leaues & broad, as the vine.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. i. 361 The ragged Bramble With thousand scratches doth their skin be-scramble.
1691 J. Evelyn Kalendarium Hortense (ed. 8) 31 Rosemary thrives better by cutting off the Sprigs, than by ragged slips.
1730 J. Thomson Autumn in Seasons 145 The ragged furz, Stretch'd o'er the stony heath.
1794 W. Cowper Needless Alarm 14 Wide yawns a gulf beside a ragged thorn.
1826 J. F. Cooper Last of Mohicans I. viii. 105 A ragged oak grew on the right bank of the river.
1860 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters V. 97 Leaves rent into alternate gaps..give the expression to foreground vegetation which we feel and call ‘ragged’.
1904 J. Conrad Nostromo i. i. 5 On the Little Isabel an old ragged palm.
1932 Times 13 Apr. 15/5 Three varieties of perpetual-flowering malmaison carnations with large ragged flowers attracted a good deal of attention.
1984 J. Frame Angel at my Table (1987) iv. 35 The matagouri, a desert thorn bush with ragged stunted growth and small grey leaves.
b. Of a stretch of ground or country.
ΚΠ
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 171 Spelunca is a place vndir erþe..liȝte and bishyned in þe entree..and roughe and ragged [L. locus..hispidus] in þe oute goyng.
1555 R. Eden Two Viages into Guinea in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 350v The toppe of the mountayne sheweth very ragged.
1607 J. Norden Surueyors Dialogue v. 203 Euen the best meddowes will become ragged and full of unprofitable weeds, if it bee not cut and eaten.
1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World ix. 256 To the West of this ragged Land is a chain of Mountains.
1796 E. Parsons Myst. Warning III. 188 A ragged and unfrequented part of the hill.
1847 E. Bennett Bandits of Osage ii. i. 41/1 An extensive scope of country, whose ragged, picturesque surface presented scenes sublimely beautiful.
1877 Times 3 Nov. 10/2 The ground was ragged with rifle pits and trenches.
1911 Times 24 May 53/5 Four thousand people occupy a ragged surface of rock at the remote Pacific outpost of Prince Rupert.
1972 T. Keneally Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith xiii. 145 They were pleased to be in cool places, ragged country that cast shadows.
2005 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 19 June e10 Glacier-walking tours across the heart of this stunning, ragged terrain.
c. Of a rock, cliff, building, etc.In quot. 1439, probably with reference to a rough or uncut jewel.
ΚΠ
1439 in Archaeologia (1827) 21 36 (MED) Upon eche of ye same ouches ys a grete baleys..of whiche balys vij beth of entaill square, and iij of hem beth rounde and ragged.
?c1475 in J. Gairdner Sailing Direct. (1889) 21 (MED) Opyn Lesarde is grete stone as it were benys, and it is raggid stoon.
a1500 (?a1400) Sir Torrent of Portyngale (1887) 194 (MED) At the fot of the movnteyn Ther lay a gret Ragyd ston.
1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 46 One maye..weare the precious Diamonde, though he dispise the ragged bricke.
1595 E. Spenser Colin Clouts come Home Againe sig. B That auncient Cittie..Whose ragged ruines breed great ruth.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. x. 447 [Toledo] is situate on a ragged Rocke.
1695 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. III. vi. 285 This Ragged Pile was of much antienter Date.
1707 W. Funnell Voy. round World v. 91 It is a high round Hill, and very barren; being only a ragged Rock.
1742 W. Collins Persian Eclogues iv. 21 Yon ragged Cliff, whose dang'rous Path we try'd.
a1814 M. Flinders Narr. Voy. in Schooner Francis (1946) 75 We came up, at four o'clock, with a small, rocky, ragged, pyramidal-shaped island.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. xviii. 128 I descended..through a second ragged fissure.
1907 E. W. Rose Cathedrals & Cloisters Midland France II. 318 From little alleys..one can catch glimpses of worn and ragged stone sometimes in shapeless mass and sometimes carved.
2006 BusinessWorld (Philippines) (Nexis) 15 Mar. s3 The egg..will surely be crushed by the weight of a ragged rock.
d. Of other material things.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > unevenness > [adjective]
unevenc1275
rudea1393
craggeda1400
knaggedc1430
raggedc1450
raggy1483
cocklya1529
rugged1528
knaggy1552
unlevel?a1560
craggy1568
scraggy1574
balkish1577
cockling1582
cockled1600
unequal1613
salebrous1633
scragged1641
inequal1661
unevenly1683
hummocky1767
snaggly1794
snaggy1806
hobblya1825
shreddy1835
scraggly1869
bobbly1909
pebbly1923
snaggled1938
the world > space > shape > misshapenness > [adjective] > irregular in shape
uneven1398
bastard1418
raggedc1450
odd1508
unruled1551
irregular1584
inordinate1667
rambling1676
odd-shaped1704
bizarre1824
scrawled1895
raggedy1896
scrawly1901
free-form1942
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 5133 Ȝit sall I send ȝow..Rynoseros, a roghe best with ragged tyndis.
a1500 Let. Alexander l. 312 in Mediaeval Stud. (1979) 41 131 A newe kynde of devourers wenten out with ragged backes.
1588 T. Hariot Briefe Rep. Virginia sig. D1 The other is greater and hath a verie ragged and harde shell: but the kernell is great, very oylie and sweete.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iv. iv. 30 Herne the Hunter..with great rag'd-hornes. View more context for this quotation
1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. i. 53 A right line either printed or drawn never so neatly upon paper appears all ragged, indented, and discontinued.
1727 J. Thomson Summer 63 Th' unconquerable Lightning..Ragged, and fierce, or in red whirling Balls.
1775 N. D. Falck Philos. Diss. Diving Vessel 25 A marine searcher..being an iron, somewhat like a sounding lead, but with a sharp ragged spike.
1873 W. Black Princess of Thule vii. 112 The wind sent ragged bits of yellow cloud across the shining blue.
1931 W. Faulkner Sanctuary viii. 87 Tommy drew his breath hissing through his ragged teeth.
2006 Washington Post (Nexis) 4 Sept. c10 An old scar makes a ragged line through his right eyebrow.
3. Heraldry. = raguly adj.Recorded earliest in ragged staff n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > lines or edges > [adjective] > having irregular indentation
ragged1397
raguled1572
raguly1660
1397 Inquisition Misc. (P.R.O.: C 145/266/12) j lectus cum integr. celur. de blod. Satyn embroidat. cum ragget staues in j nigr. plake de veluet.
c1450 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 202 The Bere..hath lost his ragged staff.
1547–9 in Liber Officialis St. Andree (1854) 140 Ane chaker with ane reid raggit bar drawin throucht.
1562 G. Legh Accedens of Armory f. 54v He beareth Geules, alonge crosse, ragged and trunked Argent.
1677 J. Logan Analogia Honorum ii. ii. 176/1 [They] beareth for their Coat-Armour, Argent, two ragged Staves in cross, Vert [etc.].
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory i. v. 44/1 A Cross ragged and couped.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Ragguled Ragged differs from indented, in that the latter is regular, and this former not.
1774 R. Forbes Acct. Chapel of Roslin 32 The seal of the then Sir William Sinclair of Roslin, being a ragged cross red upon white wax.
1965 Metrop. Mus. Art Bull. 24 114 The saltire or St. Andrew's cross, sometimes shown as ragged staves, was one of the badges of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
1967 Antiquaries Jrnl. 47 215 A kind of ragged or raguly cross was drawn by the miniaturist who illustrated one of the manuscripts of the thirteenth-century.
4.
a. Of an immaterial thing: faulty, imperfect, irregular; lacking finish, smoothness, or uniformity.In some quots. perhaps a figurative application of sense 6.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > imperfection > [adjective] > in specific way: defective or faulty > of immaterial things
faulty1380
raggedc1450
c1450 C. d'Orleans Poems (1941) 141 (MED) Beware or hope do yow bigyle, Suche raggid thoughtis from yow fil.
c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) Prol. 12 This raggit naykyt tracteit.
1603 Thre Prestis of Peblis (Charteris) (1920) 45 I am red that my count be ouir raggit.
1629 F. Quarles Argalus & Parthenia iii. 136 Aide me, and inspire My ragged rimes, with thy diviner fire.
1649 Last & Heavenly Speeches Visct. Kenmuir 1 I find my sins so grievous and so many, that I fear my accompts be ragged and out of order.
a1710 T. Betterton Sequel Henry Fourth (1721) iv. i. 60 What I did, I did in Honour..And you shall never see that I will beg, A ragged and forestall'd Remission.
1762 Plain Easy Road to Land of Bliss i. 9 Jack's [men] also did what they had to do in their ragged fashion.
1854 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 5 Oct. in Eng. Notebks. (1997) I. ii. 137 Uttering one rough, ragged, and shapeless sentence after another.
1888 Mrs. H. Ward Robert Elsmere II. iv. xxx. 363 His work!.. He saw it all as the merest nothing, a ragged beginning.
1959 F. Astaire Steps in Time (1960) viii. 60 The show was ragged but didn't go too badly.
2005 Uncut June 160/3 A ragged world of dreamers, beautiful losers, less beautiful wannabes and never-weres.
b. Of a sound: harsh, discordant, rough.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > unpleasant quality > harsh or discordant quality > [adjective]
hardOE
rudea1375
stern1390
rougha1400
discordanta1425
stoutc1440
hoarse1513
harsh1530
raughtish1567
rugged1567
dissonant1573
harshy1582
jarry1582
immelodious1601
cragged1605
raggeda1616
unmusicala1616
absonousa1620
unharmoniousa1634
inharmonical1683
unharmonic1694
inharmonious1715
craggy1774
pebbly1793
reedy1795
iron1807
dry1819
inharmonic1828
asperated1835
sawing1851
shrewd1876
coarse1879
callithumpian1886
dissonantal1946
ear-bending1946
sandpaper1953
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) ii. v. 14 My voice is ragged, I know I cannot please you. View more context for this quotation
1633 G. Herbert Temple: Sacred Poems 32 I heard a ragged noise and mirth Of Theeves and Murderers.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge viii. 277 A voice as ragged as the head.
1938 R. Graves Coll. Poems 112 His ears discount the ragged noise, His nose the tangled smell.
1985 R. Carver Fires 165 He could hear her ragged breathing.
2000 S. Kinsella Secret Dreamworld Shopaholic xvii. 239 ‘My nerves are shot to pieces,’ said Mrs Webster in a ragged voice.
5. Typography. Of or designating an uneven (usually right-hand) margin; = unjustified adj. 4b. Cf. ragged right n. and adv. at Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > types, blocks, or plates > relating to type > composed type > [adjective] > justified > unjustified > of right-hand margin
ragged1936
1936 Portsmouth (Ohio) Times 24 July 13/2 Gone are the ragged, irregular line endings.
1940 Mod. Lang. Jrnl. 24 311 The peculiar process of impression..seems at first hard on the eyes and leaves a ragged right margin.
1979 G. 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.
2005 Entertainment Weekly (Nexis) 25 Nov. 105 Many have an almost allergic reaction to text with ragged right-hand margins.
II. Senses related to roughness of appearance.
6.
a. Of cloth, a garment, etc.: torn, frayed, worn, in rags. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric with specific qualities > [adjective] > torn or frayed
raggedc1350
raggy1601
c1350 Nominale (Cambr. Ee.4.20) in Trans. Philol. Soc. (1906) 13* (MED) Mi sleue is raggid.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xi. 33 Recchelesnes stode forth in ragged clothes.
a1425 (c1300) in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1881) 2nd Ser. 177 (MED) Full raggid and riuen wase his clathis.
a1500 (a1450) Generides (Trin. Cambr.) 4343 (MED) He dede of his ragyd garment.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 13525 A Roket full rent & Ragget aboue.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iv. ii. 41 Their ragged Curtaines poorely are let loose. View more context for this quotation
1672 J. Dryden Conquest Granada ii. i. i. 76 I cast it from me, like a Garment torn, Ragged, and too undecent to be worn.
1704 J. Swift Tale of Tub i. 51 An Understanding and a Conscience, thread-bare and ragged with perpetual turning.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 37. ⁋3 Are your Petticoats ragged?
1745 R. Pococke Descr. East II. i. 166 Their sheik..came out to us in a ragged habit of green silk, lined with fur.
1816 W. Scott Antiquary II. xii. 301 Carefully replacing it in the box, and wrapping it in an old ragged handkerchief, he deposited the token in his bosom.
1870 C. Dickens Edwin Drood i. 2 He..draws back the ragged curtain.
1920 E. Wharton Age of Innocence xvii. 156 On it lay a ragged grey scarf and an odd felt hat.
2005 K. MacNeil Stornoway Way 16 I..put on my ragged punk tartan trousers.
b. In extended use, of a place: dilapidated, broken-down.In quot. 1607 in figurative context.
ΚΠ
1565 B. Googe tr. ‘M. Palingenius’ Zodiake of Life (new ed.) iii. sig. Eviijv Hereby we found the ragged house, of seely pouerty: With top vntylde we past it thoe, and streight a wood we spye.
1607 A. Willet Loidoromastix sig. ¶¶¶¶¶2 In this Romanists spitefull collections, three things I obserue, absurditie, falsitie, impertinencie: as the cheife pillers and proppes of his rude and ragged building.
1711 J. Oldmixon Hist. Addresses II. 309 There's a poor ragged Town in Wiltshire that..has had a Thatcher as its Chief Magistrate.
a1807 W. Wordsworth Prelude (1959) iii. 96 Ragged villages and huts.
1845 S. Judd Margaret i. xv. 134 A small, low, ragged room.
1918 W. M. Kirkland Joys of being Woman xvii. 203 I pass another ragged farmhouse, and here the children..are trooping in from school.
a1940 F. S. Fitzgerald Last Tycoon (1941) iv. 52 The room had been redecorated and reupholstered only a year before, but already it was ragged again.
2006 Africa News (Nexis) 1 Sept. ‘I now have a new lease of life,’ she said while at her new house, just across the road from her former ragged house.
7.
a. Of a person: wearing ragged clothes, dressed in rags. Of a person's appearance: characterized by rags.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > [adjective] > wearing ragged or tattered clothing
tattered1340
fitteredc1380
renta1382
raggedc1390
fortattereda1500
seam-rent1548
shake-ragged1550
tottered1570
beragged1611
betattered1618
shagged1622
tagged1631
duddy1718
c1390 W. Hilton Mixed Life (Vernon) in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1895) I. 272 (MED) Þou art bisy to worschipe his hed..& array hit fayre..but þou leuest his bodi, his armes, & his feet al ragged & rent.
c1450 Erthe upon Erthe (Lamb.) (1911) 15 (MED) Now gooþ erþe upon erþe, ruli raggid and rent.
a1525 Court of Love 478 To wander lich a dulled ass, Ragged and torn, disgysed in array.
1564 A. Golding tr. Justinus Hist. Trogus Pompeius xxviii. f. 116v No better but a sort of ragged shepherdes.
1699 E. Ward London Spy I. v. 10 A parcel of Poor ragged Rapscallions, mounted upon Scrubbed Tits.
1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews iv. ix. 312 An old foolish Parson, who..kept a Wife and six Brats on a Salary of about twenty Pounds a Year;..there was not such another ragged Family in the Parish.
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall III. xxxi. 215 A swarm of dirty and ragged plebeians.
1850 L. Hunt Autobiogr. xx. 319 These coadjutors were..the raggedest fellows in Genoa.
1876 W. Besant & J. Rice Golden Butterfly I. Prol. ii. 21 Mr. Gilead P. Beck..in no way discomfited by any sense of false shame as to his ragged appearance.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 476 Ragged barefoot newsboys jogging a wagtail kite.
2004 N.Y. Mag. 6 Sept. 60/3 The ragged children and wheelchair-bound homeless who led the charge.
b. figurative. In a tired mood or condition; worn out, run down. Esp. in to run (a person) ragged (originally U.S.): to exhaust or debilitate (a person), to wear out.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > weariness or exhaustion > [adjective]
wearyc825
asadc1306
ateyntc1325
attaintc1325
recrayed1340
methefula1350
for-wearya1375
matea1375
taintc1380
heavy1382
fortireda1400
methefula1400
afoundered?a1425
tewedc1440
travailedc1440
wearisomec1460
fatigate1471
defatigatec1487
tired1488
recreant1490
yolden?1507
fulyeit?a1513
traiked?a1513
tavert1535
wearied1538
fatigated1552
awearya1555
forwearied1562
overtired1567
spenta1568
done1575
awearied1577
stank1579
languishinga1586
bankrupt?1589
fordone1590
spent1591
overwearied1592
overworn1592
outworn1597
half-dead1601
back-broken1603
tiry1611
defatigated1612
dog-wearya1616
overweary1617
exhaust1621
worn-out1639
embossed1651
outspent1652
exhausted1667
beaten1681
bejaded1687
harassed1693
jaded1693
lassate1694
defeata1732
beat out1758
fagged1764
dog-tired1770
fessive1773
done-up1784
forjeskit1786
ramfeezled1786
done-over1789
fatigued1791
forfoughten1794
worn-up1812
dead1813
out-burnta1821
prostrate1820
dead beat1822
told out1822
bone-tireda1825
traiky1825
overfatigued1834
outwearied1837
done like (a) dinner1838
magged1839
used up1839
tuckered outc1840
drained1855
floored1857
weariful1862
wappered1868
bushed1870
bezzled1875
dead-beaten1875
down1885
tucked up1891
ready (or fit) to drop1892
buggered-up1893
ground-down1897
played1897
veal-bled1899
stove-up1901
trachled1910
ragged1912
beat up1914
done in1917
whacked1919
washy1922
pooped1928
shattered1930
punchy1932
shagged1932
shot1939
whipped1940
buggered1942
flaked (out)1942
fucked1949
sold-out1958
wiped1958
burnt out1959
wrung out1962
juiced1965
hanging1971
zonked1972
maxed1978
raddled1978
zoned1980
cream crackered1983
1912 Los Angeles Times 18 Apr. iii. 1/2 The Marathon directors were nearly run ragged yesterday making the final preparations for the big [race].
1925 New Yorker 5 Sept. 10/3 This eighteen-year-old youngster ran Bill Johnston..ragged.
1969 M. Pugh Last Place Left xxix. 213 Sorry, sir, I'm pretty ragged. Is Miss Drummond okay?
1985 G. Naylor Linden Hills 81 Bad enough I get run ragged all during the week with a thousand fix-this and do-thats.
2000 P. Margolin Wild Justice (2001) lix. 331 Amanda was up by seven-thirty, feeling ragged and bleary-eyed but unable to get back to sleep.
Compounds
C1.
ragged-edged adj.
ΚΠ
1822 N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 338 I observed him endeavouring to conceal a rough and ragged-edged knife.
1897 ‘M. Twain’ Following Equator xxiv. 230 Wee ragged-edged flakes of painfully white cloud-stuff.
2007 Edmonton (Alberta) Jrnl. (Nexis) 10 Jan. g1 To grate the cheese, use the ragged-edged holes of a box grater.
ragged-looking adj.
ΚΠ
1796 R. M. Roche Children of Abbey III. viii. 175 A small low house..divided from the road by a ragged looking wall.
1832 R. Lander & J. Lander Jrnl. Exped. Niger I. iv. 177 A few rough, ragged-looking ponies are the only ‘horse’ of which he has the superintendence.
1960 H. C. Stevens tr. M. Sholokhov Harvest on Don (1961) iv. 33 I'll find one, and it won't be such a ragged-looking specimen as yours.
2007 Irish Times (Nexis) 8 Jan. 12 Laois looked fit and hungry yesterday and..easily beat a stale and ragged looking Kildare.
C2. † ragged apple n. [after classical Latin māla pannucēa, plural] Obsolete rare a variety of apple that quickly becomes shrivelled.† ragged Robert n. Obsolete rare herb Robert, Geranium robertianum (family Geraniaceae); cf. ragged robin n. 1.
ΚΠ
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. xv. xiv. 438 The ragged-apples Pannucea take this name, for that of all others they soonest be riveld.
ragged edge n. U.S. colloquial the extreme edge; chiefly figurative in on the ragged edge: in an extreme or challenging situation; in a state of distress, resourcelessness, tension, difficulty, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > adversity > in adversity [phrase] > in an evil plight
at (great, etc.) mischiefa1375
on the ragged edge1874
(down) on one's uppers1886
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > edge, border, or margin > on the extreme edge [phrase]
on the ragged edge1874
1874 Chicago Tribune 19 Aug. 4/2 Thenceforth there was a rivalry between the two men..which has gone on until one now ‘sits on the ragged edge of remorse and despair’.
1885 N.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.
1892 ‘M. Twain’ Amer. Claimant ii. 28 It was away out in the ragged edge of Washington and had once been somebody's country place.
1930 N.Y. Times 11 Jan. 13/6 Paulino confounded those who thought he was on the ragged edge as a fighter.
1954 Washington Post 28 June 8/6 Insecurity of all kinds..is an old story to the family that lives continually on the ragged edge.
2000 K. Wright & D. Keith On Throttle vi. 99 She still had no concept of what drove men..to race a car right out there on the ragged edge, to do whatever it took to win no matter how bad the hurt might be.
ragged hip n. (in a horse) a hip standing away from the backbone.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > body or parts of horse > [noun] > hip or type of
ragged hip1798
1798 J. Lawrence Philos. & Pract. Treat. Horses II. v. 214 The Goose-Rump is, as well as the ragged hip, another angular infringement of Hogarth's curve of beauty.
1867 ‘Ouida’ Under Two Flags I. iii. 56 A handsome flea-bitten-grey sixteen-hander, with ragged hips, and action that looked a trifle string-halty.
1968 Observer's Bk. Horses & Ponies (rev. ed.) Gloss. 260 Ragged hips, where the points of the hips are very prominent.
ragged-hipped adj. now rare. (of a horse) having ragged hips.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > body or parts of horse > [adjective] > having particular type of hips
huckle-boned1683
horn-hipped1728
ragged-hipped1798
1798 J. Lawrence Philos. & Pract. Treat. Horses II. iv. 192 Is he a ragged hipped one? Never mind, he is well filleted.
1831 W. Youatt Horse xiv. 257 Many a ragged-hipped horse has possessed both fleetness and strength.
1898 J. A. Gibbs Cotswold Village 345 Well ribbed up, he is at the same time rather ‘ragged-hipped’.
ragged-jacket n. Newfoundland a young harp seal during its first moult.
ΚΠ
1880 J. A. Allen Hist. N. Amer. Pinnipeds 634 The young [of the Harp Seal], when first born, are called by the Newfoundland Sealers ‘White-Coats’; later, during the first moult, ‘Ragged-Jackets’.
1978 Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ont.) 1 Mar. 15/8 The [harp seal] pups begin to lose their infant white hair after being weaned and become what Newfoundlanders call ragged-jackets. This is a stage of moulting as the hair turns to a spotted grey.
1987 Jrnl. Mammalogy 68 350 Descriptive pup age categories..newborn..yellowcoat..ragged-jacket.
ragged r n. Typography a form of the letter R traditionally used after rounded letters.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > printed matter > printed character(s) > [noun] > ragged r
ragged r1755
1755 J. Smith Printer's Gram. iv. 117 Black letter..has two different r's, one of which is called the ragged r [?], and is particularly used after letters that round off behind.
1770 P. Luckombe Conc. Hist. Printing 400 The Germans have a ragged r,..which, in modelizing their letters to the present shape, they have castrated.
1969 H. Carter View Early Typogr. iii. 62 The ragged r—the r that followed letters that had once been round.
ragged regiment n. (originally) a group of beggars; the class of beggars; (later) the group of funereal wax effigies of royalty and nobility kept in Westminster Abbey.The deteriorated state of these relics and their garments gave rise to the humorous name.
ΚΠ
1609 T. Dekker Worke for Armorours sig. E3 The fires of this dissention..were more likely to flame more fiercely then to be quenched by the aproach of Pouerty and her ragged regiments.
1619 J. Fletcher Monsieur Thomas (1679) ii Ye have utterly undone; clean discharg'd me, I am for the ragged regiment.
1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 32 You look as if you belong'd to the ragged Regiment.
1761 H. Walpole Let. 18 June (1886) 408 A party went to Westminster Abbey, and among the rest saw the ragged regiment.
1889 Harper's Mag. Aug. 373/1 Since 1839 the ‘Ragged Regiment’..has been closed to sight-seers, and well-nigh forgotten.
1998 Independent (Nexis) 4 July 24 Nelson's effigy, made in 1806, was the last to be placed in Westminster Abbey. Since then the Ragged Regiment have had a chequered career.
ragged right n. and adv. Typography (a) n. an unjustified right-hand margin (cf. sense 5); (b) adv. with such a margin.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > types, blocks, or plates > relating to type > composed type > [noun] > unjustified right-hand margin or piece of text
ragged right1966
society > communication > printing > types, blocks, or plates > relating to type > composed type > [adverb] > margin set in uneven or unjustified style
ragged right1966
1966 Gloss. Automated Typesetting & Related Computer Terms (ed. 2) 81 Ragged right (see unjustified type).
1969 Chicago Man. Style (ed. 12) xix. 441 The left edge is even..but the right edge runs ragged (ragged right, the designer calls it).
1980 C. 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.
1999 I. Forsyth et al. Delivering Course (ed. 2) x. 99 Keep the text left justified with a ragged right.
2001 C. Gordon Grim Pig xvi. 123 An italic precede leading in to a drop-cap, the whole thing ragged right and with two-point column rules.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > geranium and allied flowers > allied flowers
herb Roberta1300
stick pile?a1450
culverfootc1450
devil's needlea1500
crane's-bill1548
dove's-foot1548
geranium1548
shepherd's needle1562
bloodroot1578
Gratia Dei1578
sanguine root1578
pigeon's-foot1597
Roman cranesbill1648
robin1694
redshanka1722
musk1728
ragged Robert1734
pigeon-foot1736
rose geranium1773
mountain flowera1787
wood cranesbill1796
peppermint-scented geranium1823
stork's bill1824
wild geranium1840
musk geranium1845
pin grass1847
Robert1847
stinking crane's bill1857
mourning widow1866
pinweed1876
ivy-leaved pelargonium1887
ivy-geranium1894
regal1894
peppermint geranium1922
1734 P. Shaw Enq. Scarborough Spaw-waters iv. 53 The Plant called ragged Robert, is said peculiarly to turn any Water red wherein Alum is dissolved.
1767 Philos. Trans. 1766 (Royal Soc.) 56 18 The herb Geranium Robertianum, commonly called Ragged Robert.
ragged school n. (also with capital initials) now historical any of a number of free schools established in the United Kingdom from the early 1840s for the education of the poor (the need for such schools declined with the passing of the 1870 Education Act).
ΘΚΠ
society > education > place of education > school > [noun] > school for the poor
hospital1552
charity-school1682
Blue Coat Hospital1700
blue coat school1706
poor school1727
national school1814
industrial school1827
ragged school1843
kitchengarten1877
barrack school1894
1843 Times 18 Feb. 1/3 (advt.) Ragged Schools.
1847 Ld. Cockburn Jrnl. 18 Apr. (1874) II. xiii. 172 There was a public meeting here on the 9th instant in favour of what are now termed ‘ragged schools’.
1862 G. H. Townsend Man. Dates at Shoeblacks The existing ragged school shoeblack brigade was founded in 1851.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 16 Sept. 1/2 The phrase..‘Ragged Schools have become obsolete’, may to some extent lead to the disparagement of the operations of the Ragged School Union.
1988 Oxf. Illustr. Encycl. IV. 310/2 [He] supported charity schools (the ‘Ragged Schools’) for children in slums.
2002 A. N. Wilson Victorians xiii. 151 His tireless campaigns to set up ragged schools for slum-dwellers, and to prick the conscience of laissez-faire economists, took over a decade.
Derivatives
ˈraggedish adj. rare somewhat ragged.
ΚΠ
1837 New Monthly Mag. 49 235 A large, rather raggedish, arm-chair.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
raggedadj.2
/raɡd/, U.S. /ræɡd/ English regional. Now rare.
Covered with fruit; thickly laden.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > fruit or reproductive product > plant that bears fruit > [adjective] > bearing fruit or fruitful > many or few
well-fruited1626
ragged1661
oligocarpous1857
fructiparous1866
1661 E. Hickeringill Jamaica 16 A sort of Cabbage trees, rag'd with berries.
a1796 S. Pegge Two Coll. Derbicisms (1896) 57 A tree is ragg'd, when full of fruit.
1886 R. E. G. Cole Gloss. Words S.-W. Lincs. Ragg'd, Said of trees when covered with fruit: as ‘The berry bushes are well ragged’; ‘They're as ragg'd as they can hing.’
1995 J. M. Sims-Kimbrey Wodds & Doggerybaw: Lincs. Dial. Dict. 239/1 A tree that is absolutely smothered in fruit... ‘Yon owd apple's that ragged we'll atter get at 'em soon afoãre it cracks the broughs!’
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† raggedadj.3
Obsolete. rare.
Of stone: having been roughly broken into smaller pieces. Cf. rag v.4, ragging n.3 2b.
ΚΠ
1867 R. Hunt Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 6) II. 66 In the process of cobbing, either ragged or spalled work.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
raggedadj.4
/raɡd/, U.S. /ræɡd/ rare.
Of a person: subjected to ragging (ragging n.2), teasing, or scolding.
ΚΠ
1903 Westm. Gaz. 11 May 6/2 The ‘ragged’ officer was allowed leave of absence and has not yet returned to duty.
2006 Hindustan Times (Nexis) 4 Sept. (heading) Ragged fresher in ICU, no arrests made.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
raggedadj.5
/raɡd/, U.S. /ræɡd/ Of music: converted to or characteristic of ragtime.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > jazz > [adjective] > ragtime
raggy1907
ragged1917
1917 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 3 June 50/2 Attempts to express vocally the ragtime and the ragged quality of melodies that have received popular sanction.
1928 Key West (Florida) Citizen 14 Dec. 4/1 A jazz band blared a ragged tune.
1958 C. 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.
1981 Washington Post (Nexis) 30 Dec. b2 Similar ragged inflections lit up Jelly Roll Morton's ‘Winin' Boy’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.?c1225
adj.1c1300
adj.21661
adj.31867adj.41903adj.51917