Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A close or tricky bargainer; hence, a chaffering peddler or huckster; one who goes about selling things for as much as he can get.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who higgles.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun archaic A person who trades in dairy, poultry, and small game animals.
  • noun A person who haggles or negotiates for lower prices.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From higgle.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word higgler.

Examples

  • Mary, after an afternoon out, came home with her face all red and blubbered, sat in the kitchen sobbing and rocking herself, and told Mavis how she had heard on unimpeachable authority that the higgler was a married man.

    The Devil's Garden W. B. Maxwell 1902

  • “Well, have you made up your mind, old higgler?” said Asie, clapping him on the shoulder.

    Scenes from a Courtesan's Life 2007

  • He was, besides, the best sacrifice the higgler could make, as he had supplied him with no game since; and by this means the witness had an opportunity of screening his better customers: for the squire, being charmed with the power of punishing Black

    The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling 2004

  • The higgler to whom the hare was sold, being unfortunately taken many months after with a quantity of game upon him, was obliged to make his peace with the squire, by becoming evidence against some poacher.

    The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling 2004

  • At Dry River, a higgler had sold them mangoes and plantains and a necklace of mudfish and god-dammies, salt-dried and fried crisp, but all that now remained were fruit skins and fish tails.

    Asimov's Science Fiction 2003

  • Eventually their time came, when they broke into the house of a man named Tom Thurley, a higgler, living near the mill stream.

    Fragments of Two Centuries Glimpses of Country Life when George III. was King Alfred Kingston

  • He pitched, therefore, upon the city of Hereford, where he worked honestly for a space, until being in company one night with a higgler, he heard the man say he should go to a place called Ross to buy fowls.

    Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals Who have been Condemned and Executed for Murder, the Highway, Housebreaking, Street Robberies, Coining or other offences Arthur L. Hayward

  • ‘But it’s really very useful, and not at all bad, considering that I bought it off a higgler for a pound, and Scatty and I made it go.

    Sweet Danger Allingham, Margery, 1904-1966 1933

  • ‘But it’s really very useful, and not at all bad, considering that I bought it off a higgler for a pound, and Scatty and I made it go.

    Sweet Danger Allingham, Margery, 1904-1966 1933

  • The higgler to whom the hare was sold, being unfortunately taken many months after with a quantity of game upon him, was obliged to make his peace with the squire, by becoming evidence against some poacher.

    X. Master Blifil and Jones Appear in Different Lights. Book III 1917

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • one who haggles or bargains; itinerant dealer, similar to a cadger

    July 24, 2008

  • (noun) - One who sells provisions from door to door; one who buys fowls, butter, eggs, &c. in the country and brings them to town to sell. From higgle, to beat down the price of a thing in a bargain; to sell provisions from door to door. Hence higgledy-piggledy, corrupted from higgle, higglers carrying a confused medley of provisions; in a disorderly manner.

    --Daniel Fenning's Royal English Dictionary, 1775

    January 16, 2018

  • There once was a spokesman named Ziegler,

    A famously flexible wriggler.

    While still a mere youth

    He bargained with truth

    And proved a most obstinate higgler.

    August 31, 2018