piggle

plural piggles

1. rareA long-handled fork for mixing or digging.

   A heap of it is then placed upon an inclined platform, under a small fall of water, and repeatedly stirred with a piggle and shovel […]

   1859, Murray's Handbook for Devon and Cornwall, page 244

present singular third person piggles · participle present piggling · participle past piggled · past piggled

1. transitiveTo dig or uproot; to scrape.

   I took my revenge on th' round-house, for I piggled all th' plaster off o' the walls that I could […]

   1841, Charles Hooton, Colin Clink, page 140

2. intransitiveTo toy or fiddle.

   Banford, at the other end of the table, said not a word, but piggled with the sardine on her plate.

   1922, D.H. Lawrence, The Fox, page 48

   1 more example

   Then all nature was presently converted into an object for microscopic study, so that everything, whether near or far, must be piggled at and made clear to the utmost limit of human power.

   1876, Alfred Dawson, English Landscape Art, in its Position and Prospects, page 16

3. To cause to worry, to make uncomfortable; niggle.

   BUDD. Get up yourself, and shut up, too! You have piggled me enough, you old smooty-snoot!

   1899, David Belasco, Naughty Anthony

4. To worry about minor points.

   But of what value is all that piggling, niggling, — you call the little thing piggling, niggling?

   1836, Joanna Baillee, The Alienated Manor: A Comedy