Daggle

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To let the hem or end of a garment drag through mud or water so that it becomes wet and soiled
2. To hang or trail a part of clothing into wet mud, leaving it dirty and bedraggled
3. To drag the lower edge of something through muddy ground or puddles until it is soaked and filthy

Etymology: The verb "daggle" is built from "dag", a word for a tuft of wool matted with dirt and dung on a sheep, plus the frequentative ending "-le", which makes a verb signal repeated or continued action. So to daggle is, in effect, to keep dragging something through the wet until it is as clotted and filthy as that wool. The "dag" in question is a noun that has long been used for the dirty locks around a sheep's rear end. Its sense of matted, soiled wool gave rise to the verb, and the same root shows up in the related noun "daggletail", a slighting term for a dirty or untidy woman, which preserves the image of trailing, mud-soaked fabric.

Synonyms: draggle, bedraggle, trail