draggle-tailed

[ drag-uh l-teyld ]

/ ˈdræg əlˌteɪld /

untidy; bedraggled; slovenly.

Origin of draggle-tailed

First recorded in 1645–55; draggle-tail + -ed³

No one knew of it save Bough Van Busch and the draggle-tailed woman.

The Dop Doctor |Clotilde Inez Mary Graves
In the midst of it, the Crows noticed a Monkey sliding along, drenched and draggle-tailed, looking like a drowned Rat.

The Talking Thrush |William Crooke
People go by, so drenched and draggle-tailed that I have often wondered how they found the heart to undress.

The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition |Robert Louis Stevenson
The party was made up of a ferret-faced man with a red nose, a draggle-tailed woman, and a child in a crazy perambulator.

Huntingtower |John Buchan

All ordinary housekeepers are at the mercy of the filth and insolence of a draggle-tailed, novelette-reading feminine democracy.

The Whirlpool |George Gissing