haggle
1570s, "to cut unevenly" (implied in haggler), frequentative of Middle English haggen ("to chop"), variant of hacken ("to hack"), equivalent to hack + -le. Sense of "argue about price" first recorded c.1600, probably from notion of chopping away. Pronunciation
  • (British, America) IPA: /ˈhæɡəl/
Verb

haggle (haggles, present participle haggling; past haggled, past participle haggled)

  1. (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.
  2. (transitive) To hack (cut crudely)
    • 1599: William Shakespeare, Henry V (Play), Act 4, Scene 6
      Suffolk 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 VIII
      I 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.
  3. To stick at small matters; to chaffer; to higgle.
    • Royalty and science never haggled about the value of blood.
Synonyms
  • (to argue for a better deal) wrangle
Translations Translations
  • Spanish: detener en pequeñeces (pronominal)



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