(~s, straggling, ~d)
1.
If people ~ somewhere, they move there slowly, in small groups with large, irregular gaps between them.
They came straggling up the cliff road...
VERB: V prep/adv
2.
If a small quantity of things ~ over an area, they cover it in an uneven or untidy way.
Her grey hair ~d in wisps about her face...
They were beyond the last straggling suburbs now.
VERB: V prep, V-ing