pigglen.
/ˈpɪɡl/, U.S. /ˈpɪɡ(ə)l/ English regional. rare.
A long-handled, many-pronged hook for digging or mixing.
ΚΠ
1890 Cent. Dict. Piggle,..a many-pronged hook, with a handle like that of a hoe, used in digging potatoes, and in mixing various materials, as clay, mortar, compost, etc.
1922 C. Sidgwick Victorian xxxvii. 278 Impident toad! Comes up to me and sez we aren't agoin' to build this hedge with a foundation! Oh! aren't we? sez I. You get to yer work, my lad, and do a bit with that piggle.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
pigglev.
/ˈpɪɡl/, U.S. /ˈpɪɡ(ə)l/ English regional (chiefly eastern) and U.S.
1. transitive. To fiddle or toy with; to niggle or worry at. Also intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > act or do vigorously [verb (intransitive)] > be brisk or active > bustle > fuss or make a fuss
nytelc1400
to make a matter1549
to keep a coil1568
squatter1593
fiddle-faddle1633
to play hell (with)1750
fuss1792
to play hell and Tommy1825
piggle1836
palavera1840
to make a time1844
to make a time1844
friggle1848
fussify1868
to make a production of (or out of)1941
1809 European Mag. Dec. 421/1 No prince more unhappy in his priests than King Henry (whose unhappiness it was, that all the piggle, prevarication, and imposture of his time was in the pulpit).]
1836 [implied in: J. Baillie Alienated Manor i. ii. 146 Very well: what is it, I say, but de piggling, niggling driblets of virtue? (at piggling adj.)].
1895 W. Rye Gloss. Words E. Anglia 163 Piggle, to be nice with one's food, turning it over like a pig.
1899 D. Belasco Naughty Anthony ii, in America's Lost Plays (1941) XVIII. 291 Get up yourself, and shut up, too! You have piggled me enough, you old smooty-snoot!
1923 D. H. Lawrence Kangaroo iii. 40 I can't piggle with those draughtsmen dodges.
2001 Albuquerque (New Mexico) Jrnl. (Nexis) 23 Dec. b1 Sweanor said the state has ‘niggled and piggled away’ at the plan they developed.
2. transitive. literal. To uproot; to pick or scrape at, esp. with a pointed instrument or with the fingers. Also with off.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > touch and feeling > touching > touching with the hand > touch or feel with the hand [verb (transitive)] > touch or handle idly or restlessly
finger1546
to toy with ——1576
paddlea1616
nibble1676
twiddle1676
trifle1818
to pick at ——1841
to play off and on with1845
piggle1847
to twiddle with or at1847
the world > space > place > removal or displacement > extraction > extract [verb (transitive)] > root out or up
louka1000
morec1325
roota1387
unroot?a1425
stubc1450
roota1500
rid?1529
root-walt?1530
subplant1547
supplant1549
root?1550
grub1558
eradicate1564
to stump up1599
deracinate1609
uproot1695
aberuncate1731
eracinate1739
rootle1795
disroot1800
piggle1847
1847 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words II Piggle, to root up potatoes with the hand.
1877 F. Ross et al. Gloss. Words Holderness 107/1 Piggle.., to pick out with a pointed instrument.
1881 S. Evans Evans's Leicestershire Words (new ed.) 212 ‘Piggling off a corn’ is a well-known surgical operation.
1976 R. Scollins & J. Titford Ey up, mi Duck! I. 59 Piggle, to work away at something with the fingers. A certain spreader of acne.
1986 Jrnl. Lancs. Dial. Soc. Mar. 12 I don't know what's in this jar—somebody's piggled the label off.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1890v.1836