wagger

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwæɡə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwæɡəɹ/
• Rhymes: -æɡə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: wag‧ger

Etymology 1

From wag +‎ -er (suffix forming agent nouns).

Noun

wagger (plural waggers)

1. One who, or that which, wags.

   a finger-wagger    waggers of tongues

2. A truant, notably who ditches school.
   • 1913, Norman Lindsay, “(please specify the page)”, in A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney, N.S.W.: N.S.W. Bookstall, →OCLC:

     With this mighty resolution framed and glassed, and hung over his bed, along with a pleasing representation of a gleaming eye, bearing the legend, "Thou, God, seest me," he managed by bearing himself humbly among his fellows, or rather, by having humility thrust upon him, to avert for a period such calamity as doth befall the Sunday swimmer, the fruit stealer, the school wagger, the root smoker, the Chinaman pelter, and the window smasher.

Derived terms

• flag-wagger
• tailwagger
• wienie wagger

Translations

one who, or that which, wags

• Polish: osoba kiwająca się f

truant — see truant

Etymology 2

Ellipsis of wagger-pagger-bagger.

Noun

wagger (plural waggers)

1. (originally Oxford University slang, now British slang, humorous, dated) Ellipsis of wagger-pagger-bagger.

Translations

ellipsis of wagger-pagger-bagger — see wastepaper basket

Anagrams

• Wragge