Definition of BADGER

badger

Plural: badgers

Noun

  • a native or resident of Wisconsin
  • sturdy carnivorous burrowing mammal with strong claws; widely distributed in the northern hemisphere
  • Any mammal belonging to the genera Meles, Arctonyx, Mellivora and Taxidea.
  • A native or resident of the American state, Wisconsin.
  • A brush made of badger hair.
  • A gang of robbers who robbed near rivers, into which they threw the bodies of those they murdered.
  • A person who is very fond of cricket.
  • 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.

Verb

Verb Forms: badgered, badgering, badgers

  • To pester or annoy someone with persistent questions.
  • annoy persistently
  • persuade through constant efforts
  • To pester; to annoy persistently; to press.

Examples

  • He kept badgering her about her bad habits.
  • He would badger his opponent by constantly asking, ’Is that even a word?’

Origin / Etymology

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.

Synonyms

beleaguer, bug, pester, tease, Wisconsinite, badger, bait, bedevil, beset, brock, chevy, give someone grief, harass, harry, hound, persecute, pick at, plague, vex

Scrabble Score: 10

badger: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
badger: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
badger: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

badger: valid Words With Friends Word