Draggle

Recall our study of words beginning with “be-”?  The prefix “be-” is, among other things, an intensifier, as it is in “bedraggled”.  It became widely used in the late 16th century, and leaving it off of a modern word makes that word sound archaic without obscuring the meaning.  “Draggle” is the diminutive verb for getting something wet by dragging it about through the swamp or similar.  Only Thorin is draggled, and only right before he makes his Great Announcement that he is “Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King Under the Mountain”
  • 10.010 in his draggled beard;
  • 10.020 and draggled hood.

“draggle, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 20 May 2015.

Gorlach, op.cit., p. 177

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