# badger
## English
### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈbæd͡ʒə/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈbæd͡ʒɚ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -æd͡ʒə(ɹ)

### Etymology 1

From Middle English bageard (“marked by a badge”), from bage (“badge”), referring to the animal's badge-like white blaze, equivalent to badge +‎ -ard. Displaced earlier brock, from Old English brocc.

#### Noun

badger (plural badgers)
* Any mammal of three subfamilies, which belong to the family Mustelidae: Melinae (Eurasian badgers), Mellivorinae (ratel or honey badger), and Taxideinae (American badger).
* A native or resident of the American state, Wisconsin.
* (obsolete) A brush made of badger hair.
* (in the plural, obsolete, cant) A gang of robbers who robbed near rivers, into which they threw the bodies of those they murdered.
* (slang, cricket) A person who is very fond of cricket.

##### Synonyms

* (animal): brock
* (native or resident of Wisconsin): Wisconsinite

##### Holonyms

* (mammal): cete, colony

##### Derived terms

* American badger (Taxidea taxus)
* Asian badger (Meles leucurus)
* badgerbrush
* badger dog
* badger game
* badgerhood
* badger-legged
* badgerlike
* badgerly
* Eurasian badger (Meles meles)
* European badger (Meles meles)
* ferret-badger (Melogale)
* hog badger (Arctonyx collaris)
* honey badger (Mellivora capensis)
* Indian badger (Mellivora capensis)
* merit badger
* overdraw the badger
* rock badger (Procavia capensis)
* sand badger (Meles leucurus)
* stink badger, stinking badger (Mydaus spp.)

##### See also

* cete
* meline
* sett, set
* Appendix: Animals

#### Verb

badger (third-person singular simple present badgers, present participle badgering, simple past and past participle badgered)
* (transitive) To pester; to annoy persistently; to press.
    Synonyms: bait, hound; see also Thesaurus:pester
    He kept badgering her about her bad habits.
** 2013 September 17, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain (webcomic), Comic 426 - Trans AND Gay:"Yeah? Cool. Just a warning: people are going to badger you about that. It's practically inevitable for gay trans people."

##### Derived terms

* badgerer

##### Translations
#### References

* badger on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* Mustelidae on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
* Category:Mustelidae on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

### Etymology 2

Unknown (Possibly from "bagger". "Baggier" is cited by the OED in 1467-8)

#### Noun

badger (plural badgers)
* (obsolete) An itinerant licensed dealer in commodities used for food; a hawker; a huckster; -- formerly applied especially to one who bought grain in one place and sold it in another.

##### See also

* Badger (trade) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* barged, garbed

## French
### Etymology

From English badge.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ba.dʒe/
* Audio:(file)

### Verb

badger
* to use an identity badge
    Avant de quitter la pièce, il ne faudra pas oublier de badger.Before you leave the room, you mustn't forget to swipe your badge.

#### Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written badge- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.