Badger
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Any mammal belonging to the genera Meles, Arctonyx, Mellivora and Taxidea.
- 2 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. obsolete
- 3 A native or resident of the American state of Wisconsin.
- 4 A child member of the St John Ambulance medical volunteering organisation.
"She was also a leader, trainer and supervisor of the children's arm of St John's Ambulance (“the Badgers”). She worked over 50 hours a year but received no salary and was not required to attend events."
- 5 sturdy carnivorous burrowing mammal with strong claws; widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere wordnet
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- 6 A native or resident of the American state, Wisconsin.
- 7 a native or resident of Wisconsin wordnet
- 8 A brush made of badger hair. obsolete
- 9 A gang of robbers who robbed near rivers, into which they threw the bodies of those they murdered. in-plural, obsolete
- 10 A person who is very fond of cricket. slang
- 1 To pester; to annoy persistently; to press. transitive
"He kept badgering her about her bad habits."
- 2 persuade through constant efforts wordnet
- 3 annoy persistently wordnet
- 1 A village in Shropshire, England.
- 2 A town in Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
- 3 A habitational surname from Old English.
Example
More examples"A man of weak will is the target of criticism; even his friends would badger him into correcting his defects."
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.
Unknown (Possibly from "bagger". "Baggier" is cited by the OED in 1467-8)
See Badger State.
From Old English *Bæcg (“a personal name”) + ofer (“hill spur”). The name of the town in Newfoundland likely derives from the surname of one of its first inhabitants.
From badger, the animal.
Related phrases
More for "badger"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.