A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1990 (DOST Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Raggit, -yt, adj. Also: -yd, -ed; ragit, -yt. [North. ME ragget(h (c1400), ME and e.m.E. rag(g)ed (14th c.), rag(g)yd (15th c.), rag'd (16th c.), f. Rag n. Cf. Norw. ragget shaggy.]
I. 1. Of a person: Dressed in ragged clothes.Also proverb.a1400 Leg. S. xlvi 186.
Than vald he ga, Raggit & rent & blak alswa a1585 Polwart Flyt. 791 (T).
Raggit rowper, lyk a revin 1596 Dalr. I 109/30.
Na tyme sulde ȝe evir se a wandiring, beging or a ragit preistproverb. a1598 Ferg. Prov. MS App. 127.
Raggit men sould gang far fra the wallis a1628 Carmichael Prov. No. 1089.
Luke never to a ragged lade nor a feltered fole
2. Of clothes: Torn, rent; in tatters.c1460 Alex. (Taym.) (ed.) 960.
All his clething revin and raggit was a1500 Prestis of Peblis 293.
And for ane iak a raggit cloke has tane 1528 Lynd. Dreme 921.
A boustius berne … Quhose rayment wes all raggit, rewin, & rent 1549 Compl. 69/18.
This mantil … vas reuyn & raggit in mony placis 1570 Sat. P. x 132.
Ane … with raggit clais
3. Of the style or decoration of a garment: ? Slashed or scalloped.1429 Acts II 18/2.
That na ȝeman … to landwartis wer hewyt clathes … na ȝit ragyt [Ayr B. Ct. MS 86a, raggyt] clathes bot allanerly centynnal ȝemen in lordis housis
II. 4. Of the damned: ? Shaggy in appearance. b. Of a bird: Having shaggy or irregularly disposed feathers.Cf. ME (a1300) and late ME (c1460) ragged, ‘of the Devil or devils, imagined as shaggy like beasts’ (OED).c1420 Wynt. v 4664.
Quhare Bellyallys barnys ware brulyhand And rwtowrys raggyd rech royhland [C. rutowris raggit thar rulȝeande] c1500-c1512 Dunb. Flyt. 57.
Revin, raggit ruke
5. Of material things: Of an irregular or straggling form; having many rough or sharp projections.a1500 Gol. & Gaw. 854.
Roise ragit on rise 1513 Doug. vii Prol. 39.
Raggit rolkis of hard harsk quhyn stane
6. Raguly (= having jagged projections).1488 Treas. Acc. I 81.
A raggit staff 1547–9 Liber Offic. S. Andree 140.
Ane chaker with ane reid raggit bar drawin throucht
III. 7. transf. Of immaterial things: Disordered, irregular, faulty.
a. Of (literary) composition. Also, once, of handwriting. b. Of a reckoning.a. 1549 Compl. 16/1.
This raggit naykyt tracteit c1552 Lynd. Mon. 204.
My raggit rurall vers a1585 Polwart Flyt. 23 (T).
Thy raggit roundaillis, … Sum schort, sum lang, and out of lyne 1600 Lett. Jas. VI to Eliz. 133.
Fearing to uearie you with my raggit scribling 1601 Maxwell Mem. II 11. —1581-1623 James VI Poems I 99/26.
My unlegibill & raggit hande urittb. a1500 Prestis of Peblis 1044.
I am red that my count be ouir raggit 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1894) 282. 1649 Last and Heavenly Speeches of Viscount Kenmuir 1.
I find my sins so grievous and so many, that I fear my accompts be ragged and out of order
