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haggling

- 2 dictionary results

hag⋅gle

  [hag-uhl] verb, -gled, -gling, noun
Use haggling in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to bargain in a petty, quibbling, and often contentious manner: They spent hours haggling over the price of fish.
2. to wrangle, dispute, or cavil: The senators haggled interminably over the proposed bill.
–verb (used with object)
3. to mangle in cutting; hack.
4. to settle on by haggling.
5. Archaic. to harass with wrangling or haggling.
–noun
6. the act of haggling; wrangle or dispute over terms.
Origin:
1275–1325; ME haggen to cut, chop (< ON hǫggva to hew ) + -le

Related forms:
haggler, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To haggling
hag·gle   (hāg'əl)   
v.   hag·gled, hag·gling, hag·gles

v.   intr.
  1. To bargain, as over the price of something; dicker: "He preferred to be overcharged than to haggle" (W. Somerset Maugham).
  2. To argue in an attempt to come to terms.
v.   tr.
  1. To cut (something) in a crude, unskillful manner; hack.
  2. Archaic To harass or worry by wrangling.
n.  An instance of bargaining or arguing.

[Frequentative of dialectal hag, to chop, hack, from Middle English haggen, from Old Norse höggva; see kau- in Indo-European roots.]
hag'gler n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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