"cadge" - Word of the Day from the OED

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cadge, v.

SECOND EDITION 1989

(kæd)  Forms: 4 cagge(n, ? cache(n, (pa. pple. caget), (6 Palsgr. kadge), 6- cadge. [Derivation and original meaning uncertain: in some early passages it varies with cache, cacche CATCH, of which in branch I it may be a variant: cf. the pairs botch, bodge; grutch, grudge; smutch, smudge. Branch II may also be connected with catch or ONF. cacher in other senses; but it may be a distinct word: the whole subject is only one of more or less probable conjecture. Connexion of ME. caggen with CAGE n. is phonetically impossible.] 

    I. Early senses.

    1. trans. ? To fasten, tie: cf. CADGEL v. (The early passages are obscure, and for one or other the senses drive, toss, shake, draw, have been proposed.) Obs.

c1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 511 For a pene on a day & forth ay [labourers in the vineyard] gotz..Keruen & caggen & man [= maken] hit clos. Ibid. B. 1254 ay wer cagged and kat on capeles al bare. a1400 Alexander 1521 And en he caggis [v.r. cachez] vp on cordis as curteyns it were. c1400 Destr. Troy 3703 Hit sundrit ere sailes & ere sad ropis; Cut of ere cables were caget to gedur. 1627 DRAYTON Agincourt 180 Whilst they are cadg'd contending whether can Conquer, the Asse some cry, some cry the man. 1875 Lanc. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cadge, to tie or bind a thing.

    2. To ‘bind’ the edge of a garment. Cf. CADGING vbl. n. I. Obs.

1530 PALSGR. 473/1, I cadge a garment, I set lystes in the lynyng to kepe the plyghtes in order. Ibid. 596/1, I kadge the plyghtes of a garment. Je dresse des plies dune lisiere. This kote is yll kadged: ce sayon a ses plies mal dressés dune lisiere.

    3. (See quots) ? To tie or knot. Still dial.

1703 THORESBY Let. to Ray (E.D.S.) To cadge, a term in making bone-lace.

    II. To carry about, beg, etc.

    4. trans. To carry about, as a pedlar does his pack, or a CADGER his stock-in-trade. Obs. exc. dial.

1607 T. WALKINGTON Opt. Glass 154 Another Atlas that will cadge a whole world of iniuries without fainting. 1691 RAY N.C. Wds. (E.D.S.) Cadge, to carry. 1718 RAMSAY Contn. Christ's Kirk III. xii, They gart him cadge this pack. 1788 MARSHALL E. Yorksh. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cadge, to carry. 1858 M. PORTEOUS Souter Johnny 11 Weary naigs, that on the road Frae Carrick shore cadged monie a load. 1875 F. K. ROBINSON Whitby Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cadge, to carry; or rather, as a public carrier collects the orders he has to take home for his customers.

    5. To load or stuff the belly. dial.

1695 KENNETT Par. Antiq. Gloss. s.v. Cade, Hence..cadge-belly, or kedge-belly, is a full fat belly. c1746 COLLIER (T. Bobbin) View Lanc. Dial. Wks. (1862) 68 While I'r busy cadging mey Wem. 1854 BAMPTON Lanc. Gloss., Cadge, to stuff the belly.

    6. intr. To go about as a cadger or pedlar, or on pretence of being one; to go about begging. dial. and slang.

1812 J. H. VAUX Flash Dict., Cadge, to beg. 1846 LYTTON Lucretia II. xii, ‘I be's good for nothin' now, but to cadge about the streets, and steal, and filch’. 1855 Whitby Gloss., To Cadge about, to go and seek from place to place, as a dinner-hunter. 1859 H. KINGSLEY G. Hamlyn xv. (D.) ‘I've got my living by casting fortins, and begging, and cadging, and such like’. 1875 Lanc. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cadge, to beg; to skulk about a neighbourhood. 1879 Print. Trades Jrnl. xxix. 32 Cadging for invitations to the Mansion House.

    b. trans. To get by begging.

1848 E. FARMER Scrap Book (ed. 6) 115 Let each ‘cadge’ a trifle. 1878 BLACK Green Past. xi. 86 Where they can cadge a bit of food.

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