Dictionary

thig en · VERB

Etymology

From Middle English thiggen, from Old English þiċġan (“to take, receive, accept; ingest; eat or drink, consume, partake of”), from Proto-West Germanic *þiggjan, from Proto-Germanic *þigjaną (“to accept, receive, beg”), from Proto-Indo-European *tek- (“to receive”). Cognate with Middle High German digen (“to beg, implore, beseech”), German digen (“to beg, beseech, take, get”), Swedish tigga (“to beg, mooch”), Icelandic þiggja (“to get, receive, accept”).

Meanings

1. (Scotland, transitive) To solicit or receive, usually by begging; ask as alms.
   • This is not second clothing. This cloth is not thigged. 1800, Alexander Carmichael, Carmina Gadelica:
2. (Scotland, ambitransitive) To beg, borrow; cadge.
3. (Scotland, intransitive, obsolete) To profit by or live on the gifts of others.
4. (Scotland, intransitive, obsolete) To take alms.
5. (Scotland, obsolete, transitive) To beseech; supplicate; implore.
6. (Scotland, ambitransitive) To crave; seek (a favour).
   • "I'll go and the thigged wool demand From the good ladies of the land. […]" 1912, Duncan Macintyre, George Calder, Gaelic songs of Duncan MacIntyre, page 227:

Forms

Deriveds

thigger · thigster · thigging