Home US English badger

Definition of badger in English:

badger

Pronunciation /ˈbajər/ /ˈbædʒər/

See synonyms for badger

Translate badger into Spanish

noun

  • 1A heavily built omnivorous nocturnal mammal of the weasel family, typically having a gray and black coat.

    Several genera and species in the family Mustelidae, in particular the Eurasian Meles meles, which has a white head with two black stripes, and the North American Taxidea taxus, with a white stripe on the head

  • 2BadgerUS informal A native of Wisconsin.

transitive verb

[with object]

  • Repeatedly ask (someone) to do something; pester.

    ‘Tom had finally badgered her into going’
    • ‘journalists badgered him about the deals’
    • ‘his daughter was always badgering him to let her join’
    • ‘Is the News of the World suggesting that the BBC should have released his name sooner so that other journalists could start badgering him earlier over the affair?’
    • ‘The friend that's always badgering you about why you're upset, the brother that wants an account of every boy his sister hangs out with.’
    • ‘Every Friday, the Boy tried to start his homework right when he got back, since the Twin always badgered him to, but it never worked.’
    • ‘There is no mind-jarring pop music to shred your thoughts and, more importantly, no irksome rash of timeshare touts badgering you to buy a dream in the sun.’
    • ‘How many nine-year-olds can be bothered to empathise with the serving staff in the local mall, when their time could be much more profitably filled by badgering their parents for junk food?’
    • ‘This is merely badgering the witness and editorialising, so you know, Senator, on both grounds your propositions are out of order.’
    • ‘A great idea, except it doesn't really matter, because nobody minds if you betray them or not - next time, they'll still be badgering you for help.’
    • ‘Dad's been badgering me to get a webcam for ages - since I arrived in Japan, actually - so we could videoconference with each other.’
    • ‘On the night of the shooting, Jaw had been badgering her about her past relationships and insisted on seeing copies of recent e-mails.’
    • ‘Not long after Thompson scored, O'Neill started badgering his team from the sideline, a process that never really relented until the end.’
    • ‘He's been badgering us for about five minutes now with his wretched droning, and if I'm exposed to much more of it I'm going to bite someone.’
    • ‘You can almost see the foam dripping from their mouths as they behave like lawyers badgering a witness.’
    • ‘To those press people and television reporters badgering me, it was easy for them to talk about George in the past tense even as he lay on a hospital bed.’
    • ‘My guess is, that clerk didn't feel stupid about it at all, until the Times reporter started badgering him.’
    • ‘He says he was only cajoled into being a public figure by his wife and son badgering him to avoid the silent comforts of the library.’
    • ‘My husband had been badgering me for months to tie up some savings in the bonds.’
    • ‘He hated his mother for physically and mentally badgering him to fulfil her wishes.’
    • ‘When a grade six friend wrote an essay about the computer work his brother was doing down the road at the University of Waterloo, Stumpf badgered the friend's brother into taking him along to the university.’
    • ‘Above all, though, I've constantly badgered my husband, friends and colleagues asking: ‘What's the time?’’
    • ‘But I have, for a long time, called him Badger, for his propensity of badgering and harassing young women with whom he fancies himself in love.’
    pester, harass, bother, plague, torment, hound, nag, chivvy, harry, keep on at, go on at, harp on at, keep after, importune, annoy, trouble
    View synonyms

Origin

Early 16th century perhaps from badge, with reference to its distinctive head markings. The verb sense (late 18th century) originates from the sport of badger baiting.