begrudge

From Middle English bigrucchen (“to grumble at”), equivalent to be- (“at, about, over”) +‎ grudge. Compare also English begrouch.

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /bɪˈɡɹʌd͡ʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

begrudge (third-person singular simple present begrudges, present participle begrudging, simple past and past participle begrudged)

1. To grudge about or over; be envious or covetous.
2. To be reluctant.
3. (usually with negative connotations) To give reluctantly.
   • 1958 May, Avram Davidson, “Or All The Seas With Oysters”, in Galaxy Science Fiction‎^[1], volume 16, number 1, page 50:

     Okay, then, next time you go and leave me stay here. See if I begrudge you a little fun.

   • 1960 July 11, Harper Lee, chapter 15, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:

     “Trial’ll probably be Monday. You can keep him one night, can’t you? I don’t think anybody in Maycomb’ll begrudge me a client, with times this hard.”

   • 2011 September 13, Sam Lyon, “Borussia Dortmund 1 - 1 Arsenal”, in BBC‎^[2]:

     A defeat would have been harsh on the Gunners, especially after an improved rearguard action in the second half, but few could begrudge the German side a point from a match they dominated for long spells.

• buggered, debugger