Meanings
beagle1
plural beagles
- 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.
- 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 - A bailiff.
- A small kind of shark.
present singular third person beagles · participle present beagling · participle past beagled · past beagled
- 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 - 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
Beagle2
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Middle Englishbedel“beadle”
- Old Frenchgueule“gullet”
- Old Frenchbeer
- Middle Frenchbeegueule“one who keeps their mouth open”
- Middle English*begel
- Englishbeagle
Inherited from Middle English *begel (attested in the plural begles), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Middle French beegueule (“one who keeps their mouth open”), whence modern French bégueule (“a colloquial insult said to women of low status and accused of stupidity, who always have their mouths gaped or open; a prude”); from Old French beer, bayer (“to gape, gawk”) + Old French gueule (“gullet”). The modern French bigle (“beagle”) however is a borrowing from the English. Alternatively, a modification of Middle English bedel (“beadle”) in the sense of "constable, detective". The change of /t/, /d/ to /k/, /ɡ/ before /l/ is common; compare hurkle, variant of hurtlen (“to hurtle”), and in Modern English, huckleberry, turkle (“turtle”), and stickle.
More words from Middle English, Middle French, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian зайчар, доносник
- зайчар (zajčar)small short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
- доносник (donosnik)snooping person
Chinese Mandarin 獵兔犬 /猎兔犬
- 獵兔犬 /猎兔犬 (liètùquǎn)small short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
Czech bígl
- bíglsmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
Dutch beagle, snuffelaar
- beaglesmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
- snuffelaarsnooping person
- speurneussnooping person
Finnish beagle, nuuskija
- beaglesmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
- nuuskijasnooping person
French briquet
- briquetsmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
Hungarian beagle, vadászkopó
- beaglesmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
- vadászkopósmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
- kopósmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
- rendőrkémsnooping person
- rendőrspiclisnooping person
- rendőrkopósnooping person
- besúgósnooping person
- spiclisnooping person
Indonesian siberat
- siberatsnooping person
Irish pocadán, pocadán beag
- pocadánsmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
- pocadán beagsmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
Japanese ビーグル
- ビーグル (bīguru)small short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
Korean 비글
- 비글 (bigeul)small short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
Malay anjing beagle
- anjing beaglesmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
Polish beagle, wścibska osoba
- beaglesmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
- wścibska osobasnooping person
- polować z beagle'amito hunt with beagles
Portuguese beagle
- beaglesmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
Russian го́нчая
- го́нчая (gónčaja)small short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
Slovak bígl
- bíglsmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
Spanish beagle
- beaglesmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
Swedish beagle
- beaglesmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
Tagalog aso
- asosmall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
Welsh corhelgi
- corhelgismall short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares or as a family pet
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with beagle
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
beagle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beagle
“beagle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beagle. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “beagle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beagle.
Source: beagle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.