shaggyadj.
/ˈʃaɡi/ 1.
a. Covered with or having long coarse or bushy hair. Of persons: Unkempt.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > hair > types of hair > [adjective] > bushy, thick > having
shaggeda1000
roughOE
thick-hairedc1405
busheda1513
bush-haired1530
maned1530
bush-headed1552
shack-haired1555
mop-headed?1566
shag-haired1577
shag-hair1584
shaggyc1590
rug-headed1597
hirsute1621
hobby-headeda1625
shock1681
shocky1698
shock-head1842
tousled-headed1860
tousle-haired1880
flock-headed1891
thick-piled1976
c1590 C. Marlowe Jew of Malta iv. 1858 He sent a shaggy totter'd staring slaue.
1612 N. Field Woman a Weather-cocke D 3 Wilde Virginia, Blacke Affricke, or the shaggy Scithia, Must send it ouer as a Merchandize Ere thou shew any heere.
1616 B. Jonson Oberon 122 in Wks. I Trap our shaggie thighs with bels.
1690 C. Ness Compl. Hist. & Myst. Old & New Test. I. 42 Some black shaggy dog.
1755 in W. Macgill Old Ross-shire & Scotl. (1909) I. 169 2 two-year-old she cattle and a shagy bull.
1757 T. Gray Ode I ii. ii, in Odes 8 Shaggy forms o'er ice-built mountains roam.
1822 W. Scott Fortunes of Nigel II. vi. 130 Shaggy uncombed ruffians, whose enormous mustachoes were turned back over their ears.
1846 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) ii. 13 He was a strong, loose, round-shouldered, shuffling, shaggy fellow.
1882 ‘Ouida’ In Maremma I. 151 A mounted shepherd on his wild and shaggy horse.
b. Of a skin, or garment, etc.: Covered with coarse bushy hair.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > unevenness > [adjective] > rough > rough and hairy (of things)
shaggy?1611
shagged-ragged1612
squalid1628
brushy1682
buzzy1836
brush-like1859
brushy-looking1882
whiskery1927
?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads xv. 282 Ioues huge and each-where shaggie shield.
1705 J. Philips Blenheim 408 While Volga's Stream Sends Opposite, in shaggy Armor clad, Her Borderers.
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Odyssey in Iliad & Odyssey II. xvii. 107 Tunic and shaggy mantle.
1816 J. Galt Life B. West 94 A peasant dressed in shaggy skins.
c. Of a textile material: Having a long, rough nap; rough or coarse in texture.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric with specific qualities > [adjective] > coarse or rough
roughOE
sackena1450
rugged1558
homespun?1589
shaggy1664
nubbly1829
nubby1935
1664 S. Pepys Diary 11 Nov. Put on my new shaggy purple gown with gold buttons and loop lace.
1729 A. Pope Dunciad (new ed.) ii. 135 A shaggy Tap'stry, worthy to be spread On Codrus' old, or Dunton's modern bed.
1831 W. Scott Count Robert ii, in Tales of my Landlord 4th Ser. I. 22 A surcoat composed of strong shaggy silk, so woven as to exhibit, at a little distance, no inaccurate representation of a bear's hide.
1837 N. Whittock et al. Compl. Bk. Trades (1842) 113 [article Carpet-Weaver] But in Wilton, or other carpets that are required to be ‘shaggy’, the wires are made thin, and sharp at one end.
d. Botany and Zoology. Having or covered with rough or stiff hairs (hirsute) or long soft hairs (villous). Also in renderings of specific names, as shaggy maple, shaggy spunk.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > hair or bristle > [adjective] > having hair
beardedc1450
downy1551
cottoned1578
friezed1578
maned1578
woolly1578
hairy1597
bristle-pointed1601
comous1657
fimbrious1657
tomentous1657
shagged1671
tomentose1698
crinated1724
villose1727
hispid1753
pubescent1760
setose1760
villous1766
lashed1776
silky1776
strigous1776
sericeous1777
awny1786
awned1787
strigose1793
shaggy1796
stupose1799
thready1804
feather-headed1821
setous1822
aristate1829
filamentous1835
fimbriate1836
puberulent1841
puberulous1841
sericated1848
barbate1853
strigillose1857
fimbrilliferous1866
ciliolate1870
fimbrillose1884
strigulated1899
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > villosity or ciliation > [adjective] > hairiness > rough hair
ruggedc1330
shacky1565
shack1577
shacked1577
shaga1596
shaggy1796
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 81 Shaggy (hirsutus), rough with stiff hairs.
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 218 Blossom shaggy.
1802 A. F. M. Willich Domest. Encycl. IV. 455 The Shaggy Spunk, or Boletus hirsutus, a species of Mushroom.
1833 Penny Cycl. I. 78/2 Acer villosum, the shaggy maple.
1840 J. Loudon & M. Loudon tr. V. Köllar Treat. Insects iii. 363 This beetle is somewhat shaggy and black.
1854 L. Pappe Silva Capensis (1862) 6 Flowers terminal on short, shaggy peduncles.
1854 L. Pappe Silva Capensis (1862) 14 Drupe shaggy.
e. Physiology, Pathology, etc. Bristling with hair-like processes. shaggy chorion, that part of the chorion which develops long villous processes, and thus enters into the formation of the placenta, the rest of the chorion remaining smooth.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > villosity or ciliation > [adjective] > hairiness > rough hair > bristling with hair-like processes
shaggy1799
1799 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 2 2 Upon maceration in water for a certain time, it put on the usual shaggy appearance formed by the tubuli seminiferi.
1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 780/1 An epidermic layer..covering a thick and shaggy membrane.
1855 F. H. Ramsbotham Princ. & Pract. Obstetr. Med. (new Amer. ed.) 62 And imbed themselves in the semi-fluid deciduous secretion, like roots in the soil, these have been called the shaggy chorion.
1888 W. H. Dickinson in Lancet 24 Mar. 565/1 The Furred or Shaggy Tongue.
1888 W. H. Dickinson in Lancet 24 Mar. 565/1 When there is great projection of the papillæ, so that these stand out distinctly, the term furred or shaggy represents this condition.
1898 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. V. 739 It's [i.e. the inflamed pericardium's] surface is covered with floating shaggy processes.
f. transferred. Of the earth, a hillside, etc.: Covered with a rough, tangled growth. Also of a comet: ‘Hairy’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > constellation > comet or meteor > comet > [adjective] > hairy
faxedOE
crinite1589
comate1600
shaggy1605
the world > the earth > land > landscape > fertile land or place > land with vegetation > [adjective]
greeneOE
strongc1230
verdant1590
shrubby1598
shaggy1605
tufted1606
tufty1612
covered1632
vegetated1697
covert1707
verdurous1717
shagged1784
matted1791
vegetive1855
scrubbed1870
flourishing1883
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. ii. 45 And liberally the shaggie Earth [He will] adorne With woods, and buds of fruites, of flowers, & corne.
1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion xii. 206 Those fallow Deere, and huge-hancht Stags that graz'd Vpon her shaggy Heaths.
1653 W. Ramesey Astrologia Restaurata iv. vi. 319 [Other comets] become shaggy and compassed as it were with hair or frindge round about.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 224 A River..through the shaggie hill Pass'd underneath ingulft. View more context for this quotation
1780 G. Cumberland Landscapes (1793) 8 Nor less I joy, at parting day, to trace The sun-gilt forms of Enfield's shaggy chace.
1898 T. Watts-Dunton Aylwin ii. xiii The little flower-beds looked shaggy, grass-grown, and uncared for.
g. Having a rough surface. shaggy metal: in the Cheshire salt mines, ‘porous clay in the side of the shaft, which admits the ingress of fresh water’ ( Cheshire Gloss. 1886).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > unevenness > [adjective] > rough
unsmeetheOE
sharpc893
rowOE
reofOE
roughOE
unplaina1393
harsha1400
scrofc1400
stourc1400
ruggyc1405
asperous1547
harshy1582
shagged1589
horrid1590
unsmooth1598
gross1606
asperate1623
brute1627
scabbed1630
sleazy1644
rasping1656
scaber1657
asper1681
shaggy1693
gruff1697
grating1766
hackly1794
ruvid1837
scrubby1856
unkind1866
raspy1882
ruckly1923
sandpapery1957
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > sedimentary formation > [noun] > stratum > stratum by constitution > porous
waterbed1791
shaggy metal1811
1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Compl. Gard'ner ii. iv. iii. 83 Some by growing Soft first, as many Pears do,..others by growing Dry and Shaggy, as most Musc-Pears do; all which are different ways Conducing to Rotteness and Destruction.
1811 H. Holland in Trans. Geol. Soc. 1 50 Where this [porous] structure of the clay occurs it goes by the name of the shaggy metal.
1813 W. Scott Rokeby iv. 164 A mantle long and loose he wore, Shaggy with ice, and stained with gore.
1849 R. I. Murchison Siluria xiii. 332 Chocolate-coloured porphyres..highly shaggy and amygdaloidal.
1856 A. Gray Man. Bot. Northern U.S. (ed. 2) 402 Fruit globular, its husk very thick: bark of old trunk shaggy, exfoliating in strips or plates.
2.
a. Of hair, etc.: Rough, coarse, tangled.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > hair > types of hair > [adjective] > bushy, thick
roughOE
lothenc1440
bushed1535
shirl1567
shagged1587
shaga1596
bushya1609
thick1624
shaggy1638
moppy1725
tousled1847
1638 R. Montagu Articles Diocese of Norwich sig. B1v Doth he [sc. your Minister] weare long shaggy haire?
1721 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husb. (ed. 2) II. 78 Moss growing on Trees is of several sorts, cold and moist Ground produces a long shaggy, moist and dry Ground a short thick Moss.
1735 W. Somervile Chace iii. 256 Thy shaggy Mane.
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth ii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. II. 65 The bushy red hair and shaggy beard.
1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Disowned I. iv. 72 Eye-brows..sage and shaggy.
1868 C. Gibbon Robin Gray xxii His short shaggy hair was shaggier than usual.
1901 T. J. Alldridge Sherbro xiv. 141 Her dress is of long shaggy fibre.
b. Botany. shaggy hairs: see quots. Cf. shag n.1
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > hair or bristle > [noun] > downy covering
downa1382
woolc1400
cotton1551
frieze1640
dowl1661
tomentum1693
pubescence1760
pubes1772
shag1774
indumentum1847
shaggy hairs1884
1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 55 Shaggy hairs are thread-like bodies, consisting of two or many layers or rows of cells.
1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 56 The multiseriate shaggy hairs of the Melastomeæ.
c. transferred. Of a wood, trees, etc.: Resembling a rough growth of hair.
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the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > tree or woody plant > wood or assemblage of trees or shrubs > [adjective] > of or consisting of brushwood or scrub
frithy1523
scrubbya1687
scrub1749
shaggy1789
the world > space > shape > unevenness > [adjective] > rough > rough and hairy (of things) > resembling rough growth of hair
shaggy1789
1789 W. Gilpin Observ. River Wye (ed. 2) 38 A woody hill..rudely hung with shaggy furniture.
1791 ‘T. Newte’ Prospects & Observ. Tour 303 The rocks and shaggy wood that fringe that river.
1805 W. Scott Lay of Last Minstrel vi. ii. 162 Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, Land of the mountain and the flood.
1890 A. J. C. Hare Let. 22 Apr. in Story of my Life (1900) VI. xxvi. 193 A poor town hanging shaggy on the hillside.
Compounds
C1.
shaggy-bearded adj.
ΚΠ
1861 L. L. Noble After Icebergs 68 They were a..shaggy-bearded set.
shaggy-bodied adj.
ΚΠ
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares f. 58 A grizly shaggy-bodied deuill.
shaggy-chested adj.
ΚΠ
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 490 Ben Jumbo Dollard, rubicund,..shaggychested, shockmaned,..stands forth.
shaggy-fleeced adj.
ΚΠ
1879 G. A. Sala in Daily Tel. 15 May The black-faced shaggy-fleeced sheep.
shaggy-footed adj.
ΚΠ
a1593 C. Marlowe Hero & Leander (1598) i. sig. Bij Wretched Ixions shaggie footed race.
shaggy-headed adj.
ΚΠ
1840 T. Carlyle Let. 5 Sept. in Coll. Lett. T. & J. W. Carlyle (1985) XII. 239 A fine..shaggy-headed man is Alfred [Tennyson].
shaggy-haired adj.
ΚΠ
1610 G. Fletcher Christs Victorie 82 Foolish Sheapheards, that wear woont esteem, Your God all rough, and shaggy-hair'd to bee.
1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt II. xvi. 15 The shaggy-haired, cravatless image of Felix Holt.
1974 L. Deighton Spy Story i. 14 A shaggy-haired giant, complete with kilt.
shaggy-leaved adj.
ΚΠ
1822 S. Clarke Hortus Anglicus II. 128 Shaggy-leaved Toad Flax.
shaggy-legged adj.
ΚΠ
a1930 D. H. Lawrence Etruscan Places (1932) i. 16 He grins and drinks wine, and immediately one sees again the shaggy-legged faun.
shaggy-throated adj.
ΚΠ
1946 R. S. Thomas Stones of Field 17 Thunder-browed and shaggy-throated All the men were there.
C2.
shaggy cap n. = shaggy mane n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > mushrooms or edible fungi > mushroom > types of
champignon1578
meadow mushroom1597
goat's beard1640
button mushroom1708
flap1744
flab?18..
whitecap1801
nutmeg-boletus1813
blewits1830
mitre mushroom1854
St. George's mushroom1854
springer1860
cheese-room1865
horse mushroom1866
oyster mushroom1875
redmilk1882
beef-steak fungus1886
blusher1887
shaggy cap1894
shaggy mane1895
maitake1905
shiitake1925
oysterc1950
miller1954
porcino1954
saffron milk cap1954
old man of the woods1972
portobello1985
1894 M. C. Cooke Edible & Poisonous Mushrooms 57 Shaggy Caps... This is one of the best of edibles, and common enough everywhere.
1979 Guardian 31 Oct. 14/1 The delightful pleasures of Shaggy Cap soup or Lawyer's Wig stew.
shaggy dog story n. a lengthy tediously detailed story of an inconsequential series of events, more amusing to the teller than to his audience, or amusing only by its pointlessness; also shaggy dog yarn, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > unintelligible language, gibberish > [noun] > instance of > rambling tale
tale of a tub1532
cock-and-bull story1670
blind story1699
peramble1824
shaggy dog story1937
1937 Esquire May 56/1 One of the more sporting ways of finding out which ones are not [sane] is to try shaggy-dog stories on them.
1952 A. R. K. Barnard in A. Redman Somewhat ‘Shaggy’ 4 The comparatively recent type of story—the ‘Shaggy Dog’ yarn.
1952 A. Koestler Arrow in Blue i. viii. 68 The people of Budapest have a peculiar shaggy-dog kind of humour.
1958 Listener 16 Oct. 623/1 It was a shaggy-dog story about a small-town worthy who shams madness to avoid paying bills.
1972 ‘P. Ruell’ Red Christmas xi. 102 He seemed to be in the middle of an autobiographical shaggy-dog story.
shaggy ink-cap n. = shaggy mane n.
ΚΠ
1953 J. Ramsbottom Mushrooms & Toadstools Pl. 22 (caption) Shaggy Ink-Cap..often in enormous numbers on made-up ground.
1970 J. Webster Introd. Fungi ii. iv. 311 Coprinus comatus is a large terrestrial species (the shaggy ink-cap or lawyer's wig) which is edible.
shaggy mane n. an edible fungus, Coprinus comatus (Cent. Dict. Suppl.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > mushrooms or edible fungi > mushroom > types of
champignon1578
meadow mushroom1597
goat's beard1640
button mushroom1708
flap1744
flab?18..
whitecap1801
nutmeg-boletus1813
blewits1830
mitre mushroom1854
St. George's mushroom1854
springer1860
cheese-room1865
horse mushroom1866
oyster mushroom1875
redmilk1882
beef-steak fungus1886
blusher1887
shaggy cap1894
shaggy mane1895
maitake1905
shiitake1925
oysterc1950
miller1954
porcino1954
saffron milk cap1954
old man of the woods1972
portobello1985
1885 J. A. Palmer Mushrooms Amer. Pl. II. (caption) Shaggy-Maned Mushroom.]
1895 W. H. Gibson Our Edible Toadstools & Mushrooms 28 The Shaggy-mane..is conspicuously even~gilled, and is a decided delicacy.
1976 National Observer (U.S.) 13 Mar. 19/2 Now is the time of the shaggy manes and field mushrooms.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.c1590