Word of the Day

: March 29, 2026

cadge

verb KAJ

What It Means

To cadge something is to persuade someone to give it to you for free. Cadge can also mean “to take, use, or borrow (something) without acknowledgment.”

// I don’t know how, but my brother always manages to cadge an extra scoop of ice cream on his sundaes.

// The last line of the poem is cadged from Shelley’s “Ozymandias.”

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cadge in Context

“How could a convenient route between housing estates—and friends’ homes—be an issue? Let me explain—it was all Sherlock Holmes’ fault. Him and his terrifying Hound Of The Baskervilles. … There were occasions when my imagination took over completely and I ended up going the long way round through the busier, better-lit roads of the village. Those beasties wouldn't dare to come off the greens and into the gardens. I never admitted this to any of my friends, not even those brave enough to cadge a lift from me on occasion.” — Mary-Jane Duncan, The Press and Journal (Scotland), 18 Oct. 2025

Did You Know?

Long ago, peddlers traveled the British countryside, each with a packhorse or a horse and cart—first carrying produce from rural farms to town markets, then returning with small wares to sell to country folk. The Middle English word for such traders was cadgear; Scottish dialects rendered the term as cadger. The verb cadge was created as a back-formation of cadger (which is to say, it was formed by removal of the “-er” suffix). At its most general, cadger meant “carrier,” and the verb cadge meant “to carry.” More specifically, the verb meant to go about as a cadger or peddler. By the 1800s, it was used when someone who posed as a peddler turned out to be more of a beggar, from which arose the present-day use of the verb cadge for the action of trying to get something for free by persuading or imposing on another person.