▪ I. scraggy, a.1
(ˈskrægɪ)
[f. scrag n.1 + -y.]
1. Of persons, animals, or their limbs: Lean, thin, bony. Chiefly in depreciatory use.
| 1611 Cotgr., Cadavreux,..leane, skraggie, fleshlesse. Ibid., Rachais, leane, carrion, scraggie. 1732 Arbuthnot Diet (1735) 290 A Body hard, dry, scraggy, hairy, warm..with firm and rigid Muscles [etc.] are Signs of strong, rigid, and elastic Fibres. 1740 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 84 He is a giant of a man for stature;..large-boned and scraggy. 1781 Justamond Priv. Life Lewis XV, II. 133 Her sister, who was thin and scraggy. 1848 Thackeray Bk. Snobs xviii, A bevy of dowagers, stout or scraggy. 1851 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 143, I hope the summer will plump out my poor scraggy arms. 1871 L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. iv. 250 Our party started..in a long procession, mounted on scraggy ponies. 1898 W. White Jrnls. 214 There were too many scraggy necks and shoulders. |
b. transf. and fig. Meagre, thin, scanty.
| 1837 Carlyle Misc. (1857) IV. 64 The scraggiest of prophetic discourses. 1881 Spectator 24 Dec. 1654 ‘Receive me, thy poor Christian..’ is very poor and scraggy, when compared to the stately simplicity of..‘Recevez-moi’ [etc.]. 1897 Gladstone Let. 25 June, in Daily News 30 June 7/2, I thank you for the Newark paper, a contrast with the scraggy sheet which strove to live there in my time. |
2. Of meat: Lean. scraggy end = scrag-end.
| 1725 Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. Broth, The scraggy End of a Neck of Mutton. 1871 M. Collins Marq. & Merch. I. ii. 65 He ate..scraggy chops. |
Hence ˈscraggily adv.1; ˈscragginess1.
| 1865 M. E. Braddon Sir Jasper i, That general scragginess which distinguishes the arrangements of a gentleman's servants when they are cast upon their own resources. 1867 Carlyle Remin. II. 148, I recollect being thankful (scraggily thankful) for the day of small things. 1869 Pall Mall Gaz. 9 Sept. 12 Where..do all the scraggy, bad-fleshed beasts come from..and what is the cause of their scragginess? |
▪ II. scraggy, a.2
(ˈskrægɪ)
[f. scrag n.2 + -y.
In some applications difficult to distinguish from scraggy a.1]
Rough, irregular or broken in outline or contour; esp. of rocks, rugged; of a stem or branch: knotted, full or projections; of trees: ragged, stunted or scanty in growth.
| 1574 R. Scot Hop Garden (1578) 35 If your Poales be scraggye, so as you cannot stryp the stalkes from them. 1686 B. Randolph Pres. St. Morea 6 The Walls are high, and their Foundations on scraggy Rocks. 1708 J. Philips Cider i. 8 A scraggy Rock, whose Prominence Half overshades the Ocean. 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 276 [Black Cobalt ore] Its surface scraggy and botryoidal. 1815 F. Burney Diary (1876) IV. lxvi. 365 The walk was immensely long..through the scraggy and hilly streets. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. iv. ix. II. 21 There is game abundant in the scraggy woodlands. 1859 R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geog. Soc. XXIX. 1 The plateaus produce..bush and scraggy thorn. 1886 Ruskin Præterita I. 396 To use a broken scraggy touch for the tops of mountains. |
Hence ˈscraggily adv.2; ˈscragginess2.
| 1882 Blackmore Christowell ii, Within a landyard the lane is jumping scraggily, with ribs of solid rock. 1885 Harper's Mag. Jan. 274/1 With their scraggy edges looking the very climax of scraggyness. |