Eva IbbotsonPeg Tyre et al.Jack McCallumJesse Green Allan Temko
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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.
Examples of cadge in a Sentence
Judith Martin, Sun Sentinel, 12 May 2026
Most reporters struggled to cadge a ride to the more distant fronts with the dirty soldiers who kept Franco’s forces at bay.
—Literary Hub, 24 Feb. 2026
Schwarzenegger made a pilgrimage to Washington to cadge more money from the government, but came home empty-handed.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 10 June 2025
Ansa works in a Helsinki supermarket, collecting expired food and cadging the odd casserole for her dinner.
—Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 4 Dec. 2023
See All Example Sentences for cadge
Cite this Entry
“Cadge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cadge. Accessed 16 Jun. 2026.
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