higgler

English

Etymology

higgle +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɪɡlə/

Noun

higgler (plural higglers)

1. (archaic) An itinerant trader, especially one dealing in dairy produce and poultry.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter X, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book III:

     He was, besides, the best sacrifice the higgler could make, as he had supplied him with no game since; and by this means the witness had an opportunity of screening his better customers:

   • 1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 64:

     [E]very poulterer in the neighbourhood had repeatedly refused her custom […] so that her only means of procuring poultry was of the higglers: their fowls, she found out, were either so ill fed, or of such an enormous age, that there was no gravy to follow the knife […] .

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 84:

     'I don't quite like my children going away from home,' said the higgler.

2. A person who haggles or negotiates for lower prices.
3. (Jamaica) A seller of any kind of small produce or wares; a huckster.

Synonyms

• (trader in dairy and poultry): wrangler
• (person who haggles): haggler, wrangler

Translations

person who trades in dairy, poultry, and small game animals

• German: Milch-, Geflügel- und Wildhändler m, Milch-, Geflügel- und Wildhändlerin f

person who haggles or negotiates for lower prices

Jamaican Creole

FWOTD – 19 March 2023

Alternative forms

• higgla

Etymology

From English higgler.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈ(h)ɪɡla/
• Hyphenation: higg‧ler

Noun

higgler (plural higgler dem, quantified higgler)

1. higgler, street vendor

   Synonym: ICI

   Nuff higgler sell inna di market pon Saturday.

   Many vendors sell in the market on Saturday.

   • 2015, H. Earle Watson, The One Way Out (in English), →ISBN:

     “From Friday to Sunday, yuh can run it fi yuhself an' carry di higgler dem to Coronation Market. […] ”

     From Friday to Sunday, you can use it to transport the vendors to Coronation Market. […]

Further reading

• Richard Allsopp, editor (1996), Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 291
• higgler – jamaicans.com Jamaican Patois dictionary