haggle

Etymology

1570s, "to cut unevenly" (implied in haggler), frequentative of Middle English haggen (“to chop”), variant of hacken (“to hack”), equivalent to hack + -le. Sense of "argue about price" first recorded c.1600, probably from notion of chopping away.

verb

1. (intransitive) To argue for a better deal, especially over prices with a seller.
   ‘I am pretty useless at haggling. Haggling means asking the seller to sell stuff below the asking price.’ 2020, Abi Daré, The Girl With The Louding Voice, Sceptre, page 184
   I haggled for a better price because the original price was too high.
2. (transitive) To hack (cut crudely)
3. To stick at small matters; to chaffer; to higgle.
   June 30, 1784, Horace Walpole, letter to the Hon. Henry Seymour Conway Royalty and science never haggled about the value of blood.