higgler

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English higgle

Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.

Proto-Italic *-āzios

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

English -er

English higgler

From higgle + -er.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɪɡlə/

Noun

higgler (plural higglers)

1. (archaic) An itinerant trader, especially one dealing in dairy produce and poultry.

   Synonym: wrangler

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter X, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book III:

     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:

   • 1809, [Walter Scott], “Fragments, which Originally Appeared in the Edinburgh Annual Register for 1809. The Poacher.”, in The Bridal of Triermain, or The Vale of St John. In Three Cantos, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for John Ballantyne and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; and Gale, Curtis, and Fenner;  […], published 1813, →OCLC, pages 225–226:

     Barter’d for game from chace or warren won, / Yon cask holds moonlight, run when moon was none; / And late-snatch’d spoils lie stow’d in hutch apart, / To wait the associate higgler’s evening cart.

   • 1828, J[ohn] T[homas] Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 64:

     [E]very poulterer in the neighbourhood had repeatedly refused her custom […] so that her only means of procuring poultry was of the higglers: their fowls, she found out, were either so ill fed, or of such an enormous age, that there was no gravy to follow the knife […]

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC:

     'I don't quite like my children going away from home,' said the higgler.

2. A person who haggles or negotiates for lower prices.

   Synonyms: haggler, wrangler

3. (Jamaica) A seller of any kind of small produce or wares; a huckster.

Translations

person who trades in dairy, poultry, and small game animals

• German: Milch-, Geflügel- und Wildhändler m, Milch-, Geflügel- und Wildhändlerin f

person who haggles or negotiates for lower prices

Jamaican Creole

FWOTD – 19 March 2023

Alternative forms

• higgla

Etymology

From English higgler.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈ(h)ɪɡla/
• Hyphenation: higg‧ler

Noun

higgler (plural higgler dem, quantified higgler)

1. higgler, street vendor

   Synonym: ICI

   Nuff higgler sell inna di market pon Saturday.

   Many vendors sell in the market on Saturday.

   • 2015, H. Earle Watson, The One Way Out (in English), →ISBN:

     “From Friday to Sunday, yuh can run it fi yuhself an' carry di higgler dem to Coronation Market. […] ”

     From Friday to Sunday, you can use it to transport the vendors to Coronation Market. […]

Further reading

• Richard Allsopp, editor (1996), Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 291
• higgler – jamaicans.com Jamaican Patois dictionary