wagger
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈwæɡə/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈwæɡəɹ/
- Rhymes: -æɡə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: wag‧ger
Etymology 1
From wag + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).
Noun
wagger (plural waggers)
- One who, or that which, wags.
- a finger-wagger waggers of tongues
- A truant, notably who ditches school.
- 1913, Norman Lindsay, “(please specify the page)”, in A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney, N.S.W.: N.S.W. Bookstall, →OCLC:
- With this mighty resolution framed and glassed, and hung over his bed, along with a pleasing representation of a gleaming eye, bearing the legend, "Thou, God, seest me," he managed by bearing himself humbly among his fellows, or rather, by having humility thrust upon him, to avert for a period such calamity as doth befall the Sunday swimmer, the fruit stealer, the school wagger, the root smoker, the Chinaman pelter, and the window smasher.
Derived terms
Translations
one who, or that which, wags
truant — see truant
Etymology 2
Ellipsis of wagger-pagger-bagger.
Noun
wagger (plural waggers)
- (originally Oxford University slang, now British slang, humorous, dated) Ellipsis of wagger-pagger-bagger.
Translations
ellipsis of wagger-pagger-bagger — see wastepaper basket