cadge

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The Word of the Day for January 21 is: 

cadge   \KAJ\   verb
     : beg, sponge

Example sentence:
     Mike tried to cadge a cigarette from Paula, but she told him to get his 
own pack.

Did you know?
     As long ago as the 1400s, 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 name for such traders was "cadgear"; Scottish dialects rendered 
the term as "cadger." Etymologists are pretty sure 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 our present-day 
use. 





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