disheveled








adjective

  1. hanging loosely or in disorder; unkempt: disheveled hair.
  2. untidy; disarranged: a disheveled appearance.

verb (used with object), di·shev·eled, di·shev·el·ing or (especially British) di·shev·elled, di·shev·el·ling.

  1. to let down, as hair, or wear or let hang in loose disorder, as clothing.
  2. to cause untidiness and disarray in: The wind disheveled the papers on the desk.

verb -els, -elling or -elled or US -els, -eling or -eled

  1. to disarrange (the hair or clothes) of (someone)
adj.

also dishevelled, early 15c., “without dressed hair,” parallel form of dishevel (adj.); see dishevel. General sense of “with disordered dress” is from c.1600.

v.

originally an adjective, “bare-headed,” late 14c., variant (with muted final -e) of dishevely, from Old French deschevele “bare-headed, with shaven head,” past participle adjective from descheveler “to disarrange the hair,” from des- “apart” (see dis-) + chevel “hair,” from Latin capillus “hair” (see capillary). Of the hair, “dissheveled,” mid-15c. OED says use as a verb is chiefly a back-formation from disheveled.

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