badger [E16th] Badger is probably based on badge (a LME word of unknown origin), with reference to the animal’s distinctive facial markings. Use as a verb arose in the late 18th century and reflects the popularity at that time of badger-baiting, a pastime where badgers were drawn from their setts by dogs and killed for sport (illegal in the UK since 1830). The alternative name brock is a use of the Old English word for badger, one of the few words the Anglo-Saxons adopted from Celtic.