to bargain in a petty, quibbling, and often contentious manner:
They spent hours haggling over the price of fish.
2.
to wrangle, dispute, or cavil:
The senators haggled interminably over the proposed bill.
verb (used with object), haggled, haggling.
3.
to mangle in cutting; hack.
4.
to settle on by haggling.
5.
Archaic. to harass with wrangling or haggling.
noun
6.
the act of haggling; wrangle or dispute over terms.
Origin
1275-1325;Middle Englishhaggen to cut, chop (< Old Norsehǫggva to hew) + -le
Related forms
haggler, noun
unhaggled, adjective
unhaggling, adjective
Examples from the web for haggle
The prospect of a pay-off gives officials an incentive to haggle over regulations.
However, prices at the market aren't fixed, so don't be afraid to haggle.
No matter how valuable your merchandise or how reasonable your terms, there's always someone who wants to haggle.
Your correspondent's grandfather taught him always to haggle.
In the past, two parties would haggle over a pound of wheat.
Now it is migrating to the service, attracting lawsuits and leaving users to haggle among themselves about what will be tolerated.
And doctors have long had to haggle with commercial insurers over their rates.
Bargains can be had as long as you're prepared to haggle.
Maybe the two are one and the same, our way to parley and haggle with time.
It's also the best place to haggle for an inlaid backgammon set.
British Dictionary definitions for haggle
haggle
/ˈhæɡəl/
verb
1.
(intransitive) often foll by over. to bargain or wrangle (over a price, terms of an agreement, etc); barter
2.
(transitive) (rare) to hack
Derived Forms
haggler, noun
Word Origin
C16: of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse haggva to hew
Word Origin and History for haggle
v.
1570s, "to cut unevenly" (implied in haggler), frequentative of haggen "to chop" (see hack (v.1)). Sense of "argue about price" first recorded c.1600, probably from notion of chopping away. Related: Haggled; haggling.