cadge
1 Americanverb (used with object)
-
cadges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cadged,
past participle, past
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cadging
present participle
-
to obtain by imposing on another's generosity or friendship.
-
to borrow without intent to repay.
-
to beg or obtain by begging.
verb (used without object)
-
cadges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cadged,
past participle, past
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cadging
present participle
-
to ask, expect, or encourage another person to pay for or provide one's drinks, meals, etc.
-
to beg.
noun
verb
noun
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a person who cadges
-
informal engaged in cadging
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cadgesimple
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cadgessimple
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have cadgedperfect
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has cadgedperfect
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am cadgingprogressive
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are cadgingprogressive
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is cadgingprogressive
-
have been cadgingperfect progressive
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has been cadgingperfect progressive
Past
-
cadgedsimple
-
had cadgedperfect
-
was cadgingprogressive
-
were cadgingprogressive
-
had been cadgingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cadge1
1275–1325; perhaps to be identified with Middle English caggen to tie, of uncertain origin
Origin of cadge2
First recorded in 1605–15; apparently variant of cage
Explanation
To cadge is to plead or beg for something. A hungry child might cadge an extra cookie from her dad while he's baking. When you cadge something, you wheedle or plead for it, manipulating someone into giving it to you. If you forget your lunch, you might have to cadge parts of your friend's meal, and if you don't have change for a parking meter, you might try to cadge some from a person walking by. Since the early 1800s, to cadge has meant "to beg," and while its origin is uncertain, it may come from cadger, "itinerant dealer" or "peddler."
Vocabulary lists containing cadge
The Time Machine
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Inquire Within: Synoynms for "Ask"
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The Odyssey
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Schwarzenegger made a pilgrimage to Washington to cadge more money from the government, but came home empty-handed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2025
A visitor lucky enough to cadge an invitation from a member might end up in the company of a Supreme Court justice, the master of an Oxford college or the editor of a London newspaper.
From New York Times ● Mar. 27, 2024
One recent morning, a man dropped by Mr. Mishurov’s farmyard office to cadge a bucket of corn for his hens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2018
Like desperately cadge for approval, which is sad, because people send nice notes and I don’t write back to those.
From Slate ● Mar. 21, 2017
Shortly after Christmas, he managed to cadge on temporary loan from a laboratory colleague a magnet twice as powerful as his paltry four-inch model.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Levi cadges a tube ticket from the audience to use as a guitar wedge, they speed through one last aggregation of choppy guitar jabs and frenetic percussion, and Micachu and the Shapes are gone.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 26, 2012
Fiennes, exuding sulfurous resolve as Hades, cadges some sympathy for a god who is asked to align with Zeus, the younger brother who consigned him to the lower depths.
From Time ● Mar. 29, 2012
To minimize costs, he is based at his sister's apartment in Miami during the winter and then cadges accommodations all over the world by networking in the close-knit sailing community.
From Chicago Tribune ● Feb. 1, 2012
He has become an asphalt urchin of Manhattan, where he cunningly cadges an existence off the body of a society that he believes is sick, bloated and dying.
From Time Magazine Archive
"And if it comes to that. what must you people think of a down-at-heel Yankee who descends on you and cadges for a job after he's been told there's no work here for him?"
From Black Caesar's Clan : a Florida Mystery Story by Albert Payson Terhune
The sport also cadged elements from a women's version of basketball featuring player zone restrictions.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Instead she took a too-expensive Motel 6 room, then couch-surfed, cadged a shared hotel room with a colleague and slept some nights in the airport — which isn’t allowed, she said, but “I chanced it.”
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2023
Later, when she orders the Athenian senators to step down or die, their unlikely answer — “We no longer are defensible” — is cadged from “Henry V.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2020
The battle scenes, which should have the taut realism and intensity of “The Hurt Locker,” instead feel like an unconvincing series of poses cadged from earlier, better war movies.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 16, 2019
During the summer of 1935, John cadged a small grant from the Macy Foundation to travel third class to Berkeley, and presented himself and his mice at the Rad Lab.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency told us again of babies cadging small-business loans and long-dead citizens collecting Social Security.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025
Recent headlines about a black bear found in Disney World and a video of another cadging lunch in front of a cowering mother and child have raised fears of attacks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2023
The custom dates back more than 150 years, but was stopped by the local constabulary in 1909, which saw the "straw bears" as a form of "cadging", or begging, for rewards.
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2023
Before he got his band off the ground, he worked as a music journalist, cadging interviews with heroes like David Bowie and the Cure’s Robert Smith, hoping they’ll provide meaningful songwriting advice.
From Washington Post ● May 29, 2020
Recalling his previous work, he began looking for more, driving around ranches, cadging rides in private planes.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
