beagle

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   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.

2. 2
   verb

   To hunt with beagles.

   […] reading men who beagled for fresh air and exercise, impecunious hunting men who beagled for economy[…]

3. 3
   verb

   To search.

   […]Pope clapped his hand to his forehead and beagled like a maniac; he had clean forgotten Thorofare Gap.

4. 4
   noun

   a small short-legged smooth-coated breed of hound

5. 5
   noun

   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.

6. 6
   noun

   A bailiff.

7. 7
   noun

   A small kind of shark.

8. 8
   name

   A surname.

Etymology

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 /…