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Badger (To)

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To tease or annoy by superior numbers. In allusion to the ancient custom of badger-baiting. A badger was kennelled in a tub, where dogs were set upon him to worry him out. When dragged from his tub the poor beast was allowed to retire to it till he recovered from the attack. This process was repeated several times.

Badger. It is a vulgar error that the legs of a badger are shorter on one side than on the other.

“I think that Titus Oates was as uneven as a badger.”—Lord Macaulay.

Drawing a badger is drawing him out of his tub by means of dogs.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Bad Blood
Bad Books
Bad Debts
Bad Form
Bad Lot (A)
Bad Shot (A)
Badaud
Badge of Poverty
Badge-men
Badger (A)
Badger (To)
Badinage
Badinguet
Badingueux
Badminton
Baffle
Bag
Bag (To)
Bags
Bag-man (A)
Bag o Nails