If you're a straggler, you tend to dawdle at the very back of a group, often becoming separated from them because you're moving so slowly. Stragglers are constantly in danger of missing the bus. A straggler is the last person to leave a party, lingering to finish their cake and wander around looking for their coat.

Where did the word stragglers come from?

When something's straggling, it is lagging behind and sprawling out in various directions. It comes from the verb straggle, or "wander from the proper path" as of 1400. It's believed to come from a Scandinavian root, related to the Norwegian word stragla, "to walk laboriously."

Who is termed as straggler in which group?

(strægləʳ ) Word forms: plural stragglers. 1. countable noun [usually plural] The stragglers are the people in a group who are moving more slowly or making less progress than the others.