Straggle

Part of speech: noun (n.)

The act of straggling. [R.] Carlyle.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

1. To wander from the direct course or way; to rove; to stray; to wander from the line of march or desert the line of battle; as, when troops are on the march, the men should not straggle. Dryden.

2. To wander at large; to roam idly about; to ramble. The wolf spied out a straggling kid. L'Estrange.

3. To escape or stretch beyond proper limits, as the branches of a plant; to spread widely apart; to shoot too far or widely in growth. Trim off the small, superfluous branches on each side of the hedge that straggle too far out. Mortimer.

4. To be dispersed or separated; to occur at intervals. "Straggling pistol shots." Sir W. Scott. They came between Scylla and Charybdis and the straggling rocks. Sir W. Raleigh.