▪ I. wagger, n.1
(ˈwægə(r))
[f. wag v. + -er1.]
† 1. One who agitates or stirs. Obs.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 189 And so þat name was to hem i-schappe Centauri, as it were an hundred wynde waggers: for þey wagged wel þe wynde faste in hir ridynge. |
b. One who wags (his head).
| 1654 Sir A. Johnston (Ld. Wariston) Diary (S.H.S.) II. 249 Thes revylers, waggers of their head, mockers, theives against Christ on the crosse. |
2. An animal that wags its tail.
| 1887 Meredith Poet. Wks. (1912) 346 Should they once deem our emblem Pard Wagger of tail for all save war. 1911 Beerbohm Zuleika Dobson vi. 89 Corker [a bull⁓dog] had ever been..effusively grateful for every word or pat, an ever-ready wagger and nuzzler. |
3. pl. The divining-rod. dial. ? Obs.
| 1747 Hooson Miner's Dict. X 3, No one..could affirm that there were this or that particular Mine, that owed its Discovery to his Waggers, (for by that Name they then called them) some Miners told me that by his Waggers he could find out a Vein. |
▪ II. wagger, n.2 slang (orig. Oxford Univ.).
(ˈwægə(r))
More fully, wagger-pagger (-bagger).
[One of a collection of words jocularly formed by adding -agger (see -er6) to the initial consonants of a word or expression, in this case waste-paper basket.]
A waste-paper basket.
| 1903 [see -er6]. 1925 O. Jespersen Mankind, Nation & Individual viii. 162 There is an interesting class of words with an inserted g:..wagger pagger bagger for waste paper basket. 1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 125 Such playful formations as the Pragger Wagger (the Prince of Wales..) and wagger pagger bagger waste-paper basket. 1934 Neuphilologische Mitteilungen XXXV. 130 Public-school slang..wagger ‘waste-paper-basket’. 1961 Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 1086/2 Wagger-pagger, a waste-paper basket. Short for wagger-pagger-bagger. |
▪ III. † ˈwagger, v. Obs.
In 4–5 wager.
[Frequentative of wag v.: see -er5. Cf. waggle v.; also AF. wa(l)crer = sense 1.]
1. intr. To wander, have no settled abode.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 154 Mannys spirit þat is wageringe aboute desiir of worldli þingis. 1382 ― Hos. ix. 17 Thei shulen be wagringe in naciouns [Vulg. erunt vagi in nationibus]. a 1425 Cursor M. 23091 (Trin.) Quen I [Christ] was wagering out of rest godely toke ȝe me to gest. |
2. To stagger, totter.
| 1382 Wyclif Eccles. xii. 3 Whan..the most strong men wageren [Vulg. nutabunt]. ― Ecclus. xxxvii. 16 Who euere shal wageren in dercnesses, shal not togidere sorewen to thee. ― Isa. xxix. 9 Bicometh alle stoneid, and wndreth; flotereth, and wagereth [Vulg. vacillate]. |
Hence † ˈwaggering vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xl. 4 Enuye, noyse, wagering [Vulg. fluctuatio], and dred of deth. c 1430 Hymns Virg. (1867) 89 It is raþir to bileeue þe wageringe wijnde Þan þe chaungeable world þat makiþ men so blinde. |