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)
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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
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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:
You’ll probably be able to cadge a ticket on the fly at a number of venues; if not, have a snack or a drink or just relax and enjoy the vibe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2019
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
Apparently this individual uses a variety of stories to cadge money, including claims of homelessness or a need to get to some distant city to see family.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 14, 2017
There, Holbrooke had managed to push, shove, and cadge the leaders of Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia into accepting the Dayton peace settlement.
From Slate ● Jun. 14, 2012
Gaines, a black officer so big that he seldom seemed to have to raise his voice, had traded words with an inmate who tried to cadge extra juice from under his nose.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
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
Trevor cadges 40 winks on a sofa at Nick and Jan's, an excruciating indulgence, in Nick's helpless view, since Trevor had once been Jan's lover.
From Time Magazine Archive
A beggar is not etymologically one who begs, or a cadger one who cadges.
From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley
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
But even those bits are little more than cliches cadged straight from the Carrie Fisher handbook.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 6, 2020
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
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
When we meet at the store a week before the CD's release, Latham is casually cadging a free coffee from one of her former colleagues.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2021
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
Lawrence had spent a difficult year cadging money from philanthropists and foundations for a proton accelerator, the purpose of which had to be explained to them in the abstract terms of basic science.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
