beagle

Etymology

Origin uncertain, possibly a corruption of beadle in the sense of "constable, detective" (for the change of /dəl/ to /ɡəl/, compare turkle, dialectal variant of turtle); or alternatively from Middle French beegueule (“gaping throat, noisy person, whiner”), from Old French beer (variation of Old French bayer) + Old French gueule. The French bigle is from the English.

noun

1. A small short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares. Its friendly disposition makes it suitable as a family pet.
2. A person who snoops on others; a detective.
   […]whereas burying a body in the wooded area beyond the backyard was the quickest way to make a Nassau County Police Department beagle look good. 2002, Susan Isaacs, Long Time No See, page 243
3. A bailiff.
4. A small kind of shark.

verb

1. To hunt with beagles.
   […] reading men who beagled for fresh air and exercise, impecunious hunting men who beagled for economy[…] 1933, Charles Pascoe Hawkes, Heydays: a salad of memories and impressions, page 20
2. To search.
   […]Pope clapped his hand to his forehead and beagled like a maniac; he had clean forgotten Thorofare Gap. 1997, Fletcher Pratt, A Short History of the Civil War: Ordeal by Fire, page 150