spadger

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English

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Etymology

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Originally British dialect (1850s), from spadge (fronted variant of northern dialect spag[1]) + -er. The northern dialect term spag is a derhoticised form of Scots spurg (sparrow), from spur (from Old Norse spǫrr (sparrow), suffixless cognate of Old English spearwa) + diminutive suffix -ock, with loss of vowel and voicing of -k to -g after r.[2]

Noun

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spadger (plural spadgers)

  1. (dialectal or colloquial) A sparrow.
    • 1884 September 24, The Newcastle Morning Herald, Newcastle, NSW, page 3, column 7:
      Genuine cockney ‘spadgers’ have appeared at Bulli. The little hoppers are spreading rapidly all over the colony.
    • 1961, Margery Allingham, Three cases for Mr. Campion, page 82:
      The broadcasting blokes are twittering away like spadgers over there.
    • 1977, Roald Dahl, The Swan:
      'If you think spadgers is easy,' the father said, 'go get yourself a jenny wren. Jenny wrens is 'alf the size of spadgers and they never sit still for one second. Get yourself a jenny wren before you start shootin' yer mouth off about 'ow clever you is.'
  2. (colloquial) A boy.
    • 1970, Donald Harington, Lightning Bug:
      He laughs and says, “My, you sure talk brash, for such a little spadger.”

References

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  1. ^ Joseph Wright, 1904, English Dialect Dictionary, volume V, page 641.
  2. ^ Scottish National Dictionary https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/spurg .

Anagrams

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