Haggle
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ˈhæɡəl/
- Rhymes: -æɡəl
Origin
haggle (v.)
1570s, "to cut unevenly" (implied in haggler), frequentative of haggen "to chop" (see hack (v.1)). Sense of "argue about price" first recorded c.1600, probably from notion of chopping away. Related: Haggled; haggling. Source: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=haggle
Full definition of haggle
Verb
- (intransitive) To argue for a better deal, especially over prices with a seller.I haggled for a better price because the original price was too high.
- (transitive) To hack (cut crudely)
- ShakespeareSuffolk first died, and York, all haggled o'er,
Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteeped. - 1884: Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter VIIII catched a catfish and haggled him open with my saw, and towards sundown I started my camp fire and had supper. Then I set out a line to catch some fish for breakfast.
- To stick at small matters; to chaffer; to higgle.
- WalpoleRoyalty and science never haggled about the value of blood.
Synonyms
- (to argue for a better deal) wrangle