haggle

1570s, "to cut unevenly" (implied in haggler), frequentative of Middle English haggen (“to chop”), variant of hacken (“to hack”), equivalent to hack +‎ -le. Sense of "argue about price" first recorded c.1600, probably from notion of chopping away. Related: Haggled; haggling. Source:

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈhæɡəl/

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• Rhymes: -æɡəl

haggle (third-person singular simple present haggles, present participle haggling, simple past and past participle haggled)

1. (intransitive) To argue for a better deal, especially over prices with a seller.

   I haggled for a better price because the original price was too high.

2. (transitive) To hack (cut crudely)
   • Shakespeare

     Suffolk first died, and York, all haggled o'er, / Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteeped.

   • 1884: Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter VIII

     I catched a catfish and haggled him open with my saw, and towards sundown I started my camp fire and had supper. Then I set out a line to catch some fish for breakfast.

3. To stick at small matters; to chaffer; to higgle.
   • Walpole

     Royalty and science never haggled about the value of blood.

• (to argue for a better deal): wrangle

• haggler

• bargain
• negotiate