Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. orig. to wander the country as a beggar; thence to beg (from).

a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: Cadge. To beg. Cadge the swells; beg of the gentlemen.
1835		Duncombe Dens of London 48: As I was working at the Middle Row, Holborn, which is my regular beat, I cadged a couple of swells.
1849		Paul Pry 2 Apr. 3/2: J. K—y [...] better known by the name of Old Molly, to go cadging a little less on a Sunday morning.
1852		‘The Cadger’s Ball’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 148: Jim, wot cadges it on crutches, Vos the nimblest covey on his legs.
1863		T. Taylor Ticket-Of-Leave Man Act I: I can’t have you cadging here.
1877		Five Years’ Penal Servitude 192: After ‘cadging’ about there till he got into trouble several times, [he] had five years in a reformatory.
1881		Dundee Courier (Scot.) 25 Jan. 7/6: ‘Why don’t you do as I do?’ [...] ‘And what is that?’ ‘Why, cadge’ .
1889		B. Mitford Fire Trumpet II 190: He cadges a lot of ‘tickeys’ (threepenny-bits) out of his fellows.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 14: Cadging, begging, with the view of pilfering.
1903		J. Furphy Such is Life 92: I wasn’t cadging, nyther. I jist merely ast for work.
1910		Magnet 27 Aug. 5: You fat rotter! You came here to cadge money from me, that’s all!
1922		Joyce Ulysses 78: Otherwise they’d have one old booser worse than another coming along, cadging for a drink.
1926		K.S. Prichard Working Bullocks 93: He [...] never bothered to pay back what he had cadged from a hard-up mate, even.
1938		D. Runyon ‘The Big Umbrella’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 551: He is in here looking to cadge a drink or a bite to eat.
1945		(con. 1923) R. Westerby Mad in Pursuit 48: You never see me except it’s to cadge something.
1958		A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 151: Sober in spite of his cadged and gobbled pints.
1967		H.S. Thompson letter 5 Jan. in Proud Highway (1997) 602: He would [...] cadge a room from Mike Murphy at the Hot Springs.
1977		J. Rosenthal Spend, Spend, Spend Scene 74: I cadged a pair of nylons and a pair of shoes from our Jessie.
1989		H. Leonard Out After Dark 77: War-time bread and a slice of over-the-ration boiled ham ruthlessly cadged by my mother from Mr Cussen’s shop.
1999		Indep. Rev. 18 Oct. 1: Tim later cadges a cigarette off me.
2000		Guardian Rev. 14 Apr. 10: A diminutive, shabby but well-spoken panhandler who cadged money for drinks.

2. (Irish) to hawk.

1938

S. MacManus Rocky Road to Dublin n.p.: He couldn’t have been more than six or seven when he tried to help Eddie Quinn dispose of the old horse that time out of mind had served him for cadging fish from door to door [BS].

3. to steal.

1981		J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 13: This time Wing cadged fifty cents from Al Mackey’s change.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 7: I fingered the jobs. My gang cadged cash and dope.