I. ˈbajə(r) noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English bagger
1. : a dealer licensed in former times to buy grain in one place and sell it in another
2. now dialect England : an itinerant dealer in commodities used for food : hawker , huckster
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: probably from badge (I) + -er; from the white mark on its forehead
1.
a.
(1) : any of certain strong sturdily built burrowing mammals constituting two genera ( Meles and Taxidea ) of the family Mustelidae and being widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, represented in western No. America by a mammal ( T. taxus ) and in Europe and northern Asia by another ( M. meles )
(2) : the pelt or fur of one of these animals
b. : a related animal (as the teledu or ratel)
2. Australia
a. : wombat
b. : bandicoot
3. usually capitalized : wisconsinite — used as a nickname
4. or badgerweed ˈ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ : american pasqueflower
5. : a bundle of sacks tied to the end of a rope and pulled through a line of drain tile as it is laid to clear away loose material
III. transitive verb
( badgered ; badgered ; badgering -j(ə)riŋ ; badgers )
: to harass, pester, or bedevil persistently especially in a manner likely or designed to confuse, annoy, or wear down
badgered the witness out of her wits
the mill foreman … taunted the workers …, badgered them, and told them that they dared not quit — Sinclair Lewis
Synonyms: see bait