Argle-bargle
noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A verbal argument. countable, slang, uncountable
"Wendell and I have had our share of argle-bargles about the morality of hunting."
- 2 a verbal dispute; a wrangling argument wordnet
- 1 To argue. slang
"Last night ye haggled and argle-bargled like an apple-wife; and then passed me your word, and gave me your hand to back it; and ye ken very well what was the upshot. Be damned to your word!"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Wendell and I have had our share of argle-bargles about the morality of hunting."
Etymology
First documented in English in 1822, from Scots (where first recorded in 1808), from earlier argle (“argue obstinately, wrangle”) used in English since 16th century, presumably from argue + -le (frequentative suffix), though possibly from Old Norse (Suio-Gothic) ierga – possibly influenced by haggle – plus rhyming reduplication, possibly from bargain, found in early variant aurgle-bargain (1720).
Related phrases
More for "argle-bargle"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.