Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To haggle.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To chaffer; bargain closely and persistently; strive for advantage in bargaining, especially in a petty way.

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

  • intransitive verb To hawk or peddle provisions.
  • intransitive verb To chaffer; to stickle for small advantages in buying and selling; to haggle.

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

  • verb archaic To hawk or peddle provisions.
  • verb archaic To wrangle (over a price, terms of an agreement, etc.)

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb wrangle (over a price, terms of an agreement, etc.)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably alteration of haggle.]

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Examples

  • English synonyms: to dicker, to bargain, to wrangle, to haggle, to higgle, to huckster marchander un prix = to negotiate a price tenter de marchander = to try to bargain

    Brocante / Antiques 2010

  • English synonyms: to dicker, to bargain, to wrangle, to haggle, to higgle, to huckster marchander un prix = to negotiate a price tenter de marchander = to try to bargain

    Brocante / Antiques 2010

  • Now our simple ways were a puzzle to him, as I told him very often; but he only laughed, and rubbed his mouth with the back of his dry shining hand, and I think he shortly began to languish for want of some one to higgle with.

    Lorna Doone Richard Doddridge 2004

  • In the short run, buyers and sellers met to higgle on the marketplace, but basically the bargaining process revolved about a fixed quantity of goods—the diamonds that the diamond merchants brought along with them in their suitcases.

    The Worldly Philosophers Robert L. Heilbroner 1999

  • In the short run, buyers and sellers met to higgle on the marketplace, but basically the bargaining process revolved about a fixed quantity of goods—the diamonds that the diamond merchants brought along with them in their suitcases.

    The Worldly Philosophers Robert L. Heilbroner 1999

  • An 'this is the shanty you wrote about with everything out and inside higgle-de-piggeldy!

    The Narrative of Gordon Sellar Who Emigrated to Canada in 1825 Gordon Sellar

  • "Things will go higgle-ty-piggle-ty, sure as the world," said Kat, balancing on the edge of the table, and fanning with the duster.

    Six Girls A Home Story Fannie Belle Irving

  • Oh, ye should not prig (higgle) with Him about anything.

    The Life of James Renwick A Historical Sketch Of His Life, Labours And Martyrdom And A Vindication Of His Character And Testimony Thomas Houston

  • The economic propensity to higgle and barter appeared early among the

    The Negro at Work in New York City A Study in Economic Progress George Edmund Haynes 1920

  • Did Mr. Wordsworth really imagine, that he favourite doctrines were likely to gain any thing in point of effect or authority by being put into the mouth of a person accustomed to higgle about tape, or brass sleeve-buttons?

    Famous Reviews R. Brimley Johnson 1899

Comments

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  • The pedlar sweats with his pack on his back -- the purchaser higgles about the odd cent. Whitman, Song of Myself

    December 9, 2006

  • from Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution

    March 6, 2011