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
If a small quantity of things straggle over an area, they cover it in an uneven or untidy way. Her grey hair straggled in wisps about her face They were beyond the last straggling suburbs now
go, come, or spread in a rambling or irregular way; "Branches straggling out quite far"
If people straggle somewhere, they move there slowly, in small groups with large, irregular gaps between them. They came straggling up the cliff road
a wandering or disorderly grouping (of things or persons); "a straggle of outbuildings"; "a straggle of followers"