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# The Good Oil Word of the Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/the-good-oil-word-of-the-day-623/
- Published: 2026-05-01T18:15:49.000Z
- Updated: 2026-05-01T18:15:49.000Z
- Author: David Theobald
- Tags: General, Word of the Day

The word for today is…

cadge (verb) -

: to obtain (something) for free often by persuading or imposing on another : sponge

Source : [Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cadge?ref=goodoil.news)

Etymology : Long ago, peddlers traveled the British countryside, each with a packhorse or a horse and cart—first carrying produce from rural farms to town markets, then returning with small wares to sell to country folk. The Middle English word for such traders was cadgear; Scottish dialects rendered the term as cadger. The verb cadge was created as a back-formation of cadger (which is to say, it was formed by removal of the “-er” suffix). At its most general, cadger meant “carrier,” and the verb cadge meant “to carry.” More specifically, the verb meant to go about as a cadger or peddler. By the 1800s, it was used when someone who posed as a peddler turned out to be more of a beggar, from which arose the present-day use of the verb cadge for the action of trying to get something for free by persuading or imposing on another person.

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