quaggy, a.
(ˈkwægɪ, ˈkwɒgɪ)
[f. quag n. or v.1 + -y.]
1. Of ground: That shakes under the foot; full of quags; boggy, soft. Also of streams: Flowing through boggy soil.
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 499 Certaine uneven and quaggie miry plots. a 1756 Collins Ode Superst. Highl. 59 O'er the watery strath or quaggy moss. 1814 Scott Wav. xvi, The path..was rough, broken, and in many places quaggy and unsound. 1867 Morris Jason xi. 188 A plain..with quaggy brooks cleft through. 1956 Peterson & Fisher Wild Amer. xxxiii. 356 The banks..were aproned by mud—quaggy and adhesive. 1969 P. Dickinson Pride of Heroes 98 Putting his foot into a quaggy area, which sent..stinking inky ooze between shoe and sock. |
2. Of things,
esp. of the body or flesh: Soft, yielding, flabby. Also of persons in respect of their flesh, and
fig.| ? 16.. Time's Storehouse 26 (L.) Heate and travaile are yrkesome to the Gaules' quaggy bodies. 1611 Cotgr., Mollasse, quaggie, swagging [etc.]. 1694 Motteux Rabelais iv. ix. (1737) 37 A female called Pear..said to be quaggy and flabby. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VIII. 158 Behold her, then, spreading the whole troubled bed with her huge quaggy carcase. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) vi. 120 O the quaggy rascal!..I'd have given him a little bone to his fat. 1822–34 Good's Stud. Med. (ed. 4) II. 680 The cells [of dead bone] being filled with a corrupt sanies or spongy caruncles, so that the whole assumes a quaggy appearance. 1851 H. Melville Whale xxv. 125 A mature man who uses hair-oil..has probably got a quaggy spot on him. 1968 G. Jones Hist. Vikings ii. iv. 139 Alas, Einar's late-acquired nickname [sc. Thambarskelfir] has nothing to do with..a bowstring; it refers to his pendulous and quaggy belly. |
| Comb. 1721 Ramsay Tartana 343 May she turn quaggy fat. |
Hence
ˈquagginess, quaggy condition.
| 1653 Gataker Vind. Annot. Jer. 85 Considering the unsoundnesse and qagginesse of their [Astrologers'] grounds. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 692/1 Quagginess, a term used to indicate the defective condition of timber having shakes at the heart of the log. |