piggle

noun, verb — 5 senses

piggle

noun

Etymology Uncertain. Attested since the nineteenth century. Compare niggle, fiddle.

1

Rare A long-handled fork for mixing or digging.

A heap of it is then placed upon an inclined platform, under a small fall of water, and repeatedly stirred with a piggle and shovel […]1859, Murray's Handbook for Devon and Cornwall, page 244:

piggle

verb

Etymology Uncertain. Attested since the nineteenth century. Compare niggle, fiddle.

1

To dig or uproot; to scrape.

I took my revenge on th' round-house, for I piggled all th' plaster off o' the walls that I could […]1841, Charles Hooton, Colin Clink, page 140:

2

To toy or fiddle.

Then all nature was presently converted into an object for microscopic study, so that everything, whether near or far, must be piggled at and made clear to the utmost limit of human power.1876, Alfred Dawson, English Landscape Art, in its Position and Prospects, page 16:
Banford, at the other end of the table, said not a word, but piggled with the sardine on her plate.1922, D.H. Lawrence, The Fox, page 48:

3

To cause to worry, to make uncomfortable; niggle.

BUDD. Get up yourself, and shut up, too! You have piggled me enough, you old smooty-snoot!1899, David Belasco, Naughty Anthony:

4

To worry about minor points.

But of what value is all that piggling, niggling, — you call the little thing piggling, niggling?1836, Joanna Baillee, The Alienated Manor: A Comedy:

Related terms: higgledy-piggledy

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.