Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) a chamberpot; thus the badger fight, pulling the badger, a practical joke whereby an innocent is lured into a hoax fight between a dog and a badger but ends up being splashed by the contents of a chamberpot.

1893		L. Chittenden ‘The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball’ in Ranch Verses 13: Where Frank Smith ‘pulls the badger,’ on knowin’ tenderfeet.
1908		Sun (NY) 6 Sept. 29/5: Just as every ship has a mainmast, every badger fight must have a victim, a man to pull the badger.
1920		‘Cowboys’ Christmas Ball’ in J.A. Lomax Songs of the Cattle Trail 71: [as cit. 1893].
1928		H.S. Truman letter 15 July in Ferrell Dear Bess (1983) 335: It has been customary for some years for the reserves to have a ‘badger fight’ [...] Well a badger fight is not a very ladylike affair nor is it intended to be.
1961		R.F. Adams Old-Time Cowhand 321: ‘Pullin’ the badger’ got to be a standard joke ... it had to be pulled on an Easterner who knowed absolutely nothin’ bout the West ... they’d gather ’round ’im . . and begin talkin’ excitedly ’bout the comin’ badger fight ... Declarin’ they’d have to have some disinterested party, they’d begin lookin’ ’round and suddenly discover the greener ... some cowhand would give the new referee some advice as to how to pull the badger ... When they got to the place of the fight, there was the dog ... Nearby was the tub the badger was supposed to be under, and there was a rope runnin’ out some distance from beneath the tub ... When he [the ‘referee’] was ordered to ‘pull’ he gave the rope a hard yank jes’ as one cowhand tipped up the tub from the rear ... There was no badger on the end of the rope at all, . . . but . . . one of them vessels usually found under the bed at night.
1967		in DARE I 127/1: Badger fight ... The tenderhorn pulls on a rope which he thinks attaches to the badger – to pull him out for the fight – but which actually attaches to a piss-pot.
1968		in DARE I 127/1: [...] Badger – same as thunder mug.

2. (US) a rudimentary mens’ haircut in which the hair is the same length all the way round.

1919

D. Runyon ‘A Tale of two Fists’ XIX in Pittsburgh Press (PA) 25 May 25/1: ‘We had those badger haircuts —the kind like maw used to give you when she put the crock over your head and cut off the hair that stuck out around the edges’.