badger

See also: Badger

English

WOTD – 7 August 2009

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈbæd͡ʒə/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈbæd͡ʒɚ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (General Australian):(file)
  • Rhymes: -æd͡ʒə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English bageard (marked by a badge), from bage (badge), referring to the animal's badge-like white blaze, equivalent to badge +‎ -ard. Displaced earlier brock, from Old English brocc.

Noun

badger (plural badgers)

  1. Any mammal belonging to the genera Meles, Arctonyx, Mellivora and Taxidea.
  2. A native or resident of the American state, Wisconsin.
  3. (obsolete) A brush made of badger hair.
  4. (in the plural, obsolete, cant) A gang of robbers who robbed near rivers, into which they threw the bodies of those they murdered.
  5. (slang, cricket) A person who is very fond of cricket.
Synonyms
Holonyms
Derived terms
Translations
See also

Verb

badger (third-person singular simple present badgers, present participle badgering, simple past and past participle badgered)

  1. (transitive) To pester; to annoy persistently; to press.
    Synonyms: bait, hound; see also Thesaurus:pester
    He kept badgering her about her bad habits.
    • 2013 September 17, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain (webcomic), Comic 426 - Trans AND Gay:
      "Yeah? Cool. Just a warning: people are going to badger you about that. It's practically inevitable for gay trans people."
Derived terms
Translations

References

Etymology 2

Unknown (Possibly from "bagger". "Baggier" is cited by the OED in 1467-8)

Noun

badger (plural badgers)

  1. (obsolete) An itinerant licensed dealer in commodities used for food; a hawker; a huckster; -- formerly applied especially to one who bought grain in one place and sold it in another.
See also

Anagrams

French

Etymology

From English badge.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ba.dʒe/
  • Audio:(file)

Verb

badger

  1. to use an identity badge
    Avant de quitter la pièce, il ne faudra pas oublier de badger.
    Before you leave the room, you mustn't forget to swipe your badge.

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written badge- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.