spadger
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]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
[edit]spadger (plural spadgers)
- (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.'
- (colloquial) A boy.
- 1970, Donald Harington, Lightning Bug:
- He laughs and says, “My, you sure talk brash, for such a little spadger.”
References
[edit]- ^ Joseph Wright, 1904, English Dialect Dictionary, volume V, page 641.
- ^ Scottish National Dictionary https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/spurg .