Borrowed fromMiddle Frenchbouger, fromOld Frenchbougier, fromVulgar Latin*bullicāre(“to bubble; seethe; move; stir”), fromLatinbullīre(“to boil; seethe; roil”). More atboil.
budge (third-person singular simple presentbudges,present participlebudging,simple past and past participlebudged)
- (intransitive) Tomove; to be shifted from a fixed position.
I’ve been pushing this rock as hard as I can, but it won’tbudge an inch.
c.1590–1592 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act I, scene i],page208, column 1:Ile notbudge an inch boy: Let him come, and kindly.
1603,Michel de Montaigne, “Of the batell of Dreux”, inJohn Florio, transl.,The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes forEdward Blount […],→OCLC,page148:[…]although his ſouldiers were much moved and offended to ſee their fellowes put to the worſt, he could not be induced tobouge from his place[…]
2014 March 9, Jacob Steinberg, “Wigan shock Manchester City in FA Cup again to reach semi-finals”, inThe Guardian:Yet goals in either half from Jordi Gómez and James Perch inspired them and then, in the face of a relentless City onslaught, they simply would notbudge, throwing heart, body and soul in the way of a ball which seemed destined for their net on several occasions.
2023 March 13, Naureen Khan, “Doug Emhoff Wants Men to Clear the Path for More Kamalas”, inCosmopolitan[1]:The gender equality picture stateside can also seem bleak, especially in the wake of the Supreme Court gutting reproductive rights last summer. Women still make only 83 percent of what men do in the U.S.—a stat that has barelybudged in the past 20 years.
- (transitive) To move; to shift from a fixed position.
I’ve been pushing this rock as hard as I can, but I can’tbudge it.
- To yield in one’sopinions orbeliefs.
The Minister for Finance refused tobudge on the new economic rules.
1933, Richard Curle,Corruption, page75:If only I could get Ambrose to take me away somewhere! But he won'tbudge.
- (Upper Midwestern US, Indiana, western Canada) Tocut orbutt (in line); to join the front or middle rather than the back of a queue.
Hey, nobudging! Don'tbudge in line!
- To try toimprove thespot of a decision on a sports field.
- (Can we add anexample for this sense?)
Senses 1-3 are most often used in negative constructions (won't budge; refused to budge), and when used positively, it is atelic verb, so one can sayHe finally budged but notHe budged all day until he'd finally had enough. Positive constructions such asSure, I'll budge orWill he budge? are attested but uncommon. See alsobudge up.
sports: to improve spot of decision
FromMiddle Englishbouge,bougie,bugee, fromAnglo-Normanbogé, from Anglo-Latin*bogea,bulgia, related toLatinbulga(“a leathern bag or knapsack”).Doublet ofbulge.
budge (uncountable)
- A kind offur prepared fromlambskindressed with thewool on, formerly used as anedging andornament, especially onscholastichabits.
1649,John Milton,Observations:They are become so liberal, as to part freely with their ownbudge-gowns from off their backs.
1787,An Historical and Chronological Deduction of the Origin of Commerce, page282:One hundred pieces of green silk for the Knights; fourteenbudge furs for surcoats; thirteen hoods ofbudge for clerks, and seventy furs of lamb for liveries in summer.
budge (notcomparable)
- (obsolete)austere orstiff, likescholastics
1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited byH[enry] Lawes,A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] forHvmphrey Robinson, […], published1637,→OCLC; reprinted asComus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.:Dodd, Mead & Company,1903,→OCLC:Thosebudge doctors of the stoic fur.
1784, John Wesley,The Magazine of the Wesleyan Methodist Church - Volume 7, page393:The solemn fop; significant andbudge; A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge, He says but little and that little said, 'Owes all its weight, like loaded dice, to lead.
1931,The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, page684:"My boy looked at me verybudge," i.e., solemn.
Perhaps related tobooze.
budge (uncountable)
- (slang, obsolete) Alcoholic drink.
- John Camden Hotten (1873)The Slang Dictionary
