Literary notes about scraggly (AI summary)
The word "scraggly" is often used to evoke a sense of disorder or rugged, unkempt appearance in literature. It frequently describes physical traits—such as a disheveled beard, mustache, or hair—to underline a character's rough or weathered nature ([1], [2], [3], [4], [5]). At the same time, the term is applied to nature, painting vivid images of wild and untamed landscapes—from scraggly bushes and orchards to forests of twisted, jagged trees—that contribute to an atmosphere of unrefined beauty and decay ([6], [7], [8], [9]). This layered use of "scraggly" not only adds tactile detail to visual descriptions but also deepens the overall mood of a scene, whether in portraying human frailty or the rugged persistence of nature.
- The colored man raised his head wearily as she spoke, and turned toward her a gaunt face half hidden by a gray, scraggly beard.
— from Bricks Without Straw: A Novel by Albion Winegar Tourgée - His beard was scant and scraggly, and his large black eyes gleamed like those of a wild animal.
— from A Waif of the Mountains by Edward Sylvester Ellis - Her scraggly grey hair was drawn unrelentingly and flatly back from a narrow, unrelenting forehead.
— from On the Makaloa Mat/Island Tales by Jack London - For once he had left off his mask, but, in place of it, his face was covered by a scraggly black beard.
— from The Exploits of Elaine by Arthur B. (Arthur Benjamin) Reeve - " Regan tugged viciously at his scraggly brown mustache.
— from The Night Operator by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard - The big scraggly bush is (ten years after) bravely holding its own, and summer after summer scantily bearing the same dear old roses.
— from A Garden with House Attached by Sarah Warner Brooks - They followed him into a scraggly orchard, and he broke a crotched limb from a tree.
— from The Skipper and the Skipped: Being the Shore Log of Cap'n Aaron Sproul by Holman Day - There the scraggly trees, grotesquely twisted, gave to the rocky heights a bleak and bizarre appearance.
— from The Master of the World by Jules Verne - A sparse scraggly forest of twisted gray foliage sprang up at them.
— from The Native Soil by Alan Edward Nourse
