Making something wet, muddy, or untidy by dragging it through wet or dirty conditions.
From 'be-' (causative prefix) + 'draggle' (to drag through mud or water). The word 'draggle' emerged in the 16th century from Low German 'draggen.' The 'be-' prefix intensifies the action of making something draggled.
Medieval laundry workers would have used this exact word to describe what happened when servants dragged fine ladies' long skirts through the mud—'bedraggled' became the perfect insult for someone looking disheveled and dirty!
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