Definition of "ragged"

There was a ragged noise of bleating from the flock penned in a corner of the yard. Two red-armed men seized a sheep, hauled it to a large bath that stood in the middle of the yard, and there held it, more or less in the bath, whilst a third man baled a dirty yellow liquid over its body.

1912, David Herbert Lawrence, chapter 12, in The Trespasser

She ran to the door and there beheld the ragged street urchin calmly playing his organ.

1956 , Johanna Spyri, Heidi, translation of original by Eileen Hall, page 84

Seeking out the poorer quartersWhere the ragged people go

1969, “The Boxer”, in Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel (music), Bridge over Troubled Water, Columbia Records

Now I realize how ridiculous and almost impertinent it was to expect New Yorkers to accept such a ragged performance for they have always demanded the best and do not tolerate the second-rate."

2010, Dall Wilson, Alice Nielsen and the Gayety of Nations, page 318

Allardyce's side had led at the break through a Carlton Cole strike but after Thomas Ince - son of former Hammers midfielder Paul - levelled shortly after the restart, the match became increasingly stretched and ragged.

2012 May 19, Paul Fletcher, “Blackpool 1-2 West Ham”, in BBC Sport‎

Despite the apparent general viability of the AVF its ragged performance serves to motivate serious questions concerning its future viability, the quality of the defense that we are buying, and the AVF's effect on our nation and society.

2013, William J. Taylor, Eric T. Olson, Richard A. Schrader, Defense Manpower Planning: Issues for the 1980s, page 219