to move slightly; begin to move.
He stepped on the gas but the car didn't budge.
to change one's opinion or stated position; yield.
Once her father had said “no,” he wouldn't budge.
made from, trimmed, or lined with budge.
Obsolete. pompous; solemn.
to move, however slightly
the car won't budge
to change or cause to change opinions, etc
1580–90; < Anglo-French, Middle French bouger to stir < Vulgar Latin *bullicāre to bubble, frequentative of Latin bullīre; see boil 1
1350–1400; Middle English bugee, perhaps akin to budget
To budge is to move — but just a little bit. People can budge physically from where they're sitting or standing, and people can budge from opinions and positions too. If a bunch of your friends are sitting on a bench, and they're taking up too much space for you to sit, you could ask them to budge, meaning "Move over!" If you hate eggs and refuse to eat them no matter how they're cooked, you are refusing to budge from your anti-egg policy. Budge is most often used in a negative way, as in "I won't budge" or "They wouldn't budge." This word often applies to stubborn people. Since budge means to move just a tiny bit, what's the big deal? Someone who accuses you of not budging is basically saying you should.
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At 22 and nearly nine months, Alcaraz is now the youngest man to win all four majors, breaking an 87-year-old record held by the American Don Budge.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 1, 2026
McLean said Budge was described as "pale white and shook up" after the incident.
From BBC • Jan. 21, 2026
Rod Laver and Don Budge are the two men to have done it.
From BBC • Sep. 10, 2023
Savitt remains one of just four men from the United States to win those two major tournaments in a single season, along with Don Budge, Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 6, 2023
They stay in Ballygunge, Tollygunge, Salt Lake, Budge Budge, ferried by endless bumpy taxi rides back and forth through the city.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
