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badger game

noun

  1. an extortion scheme in which a woman places a man in a compromising position and then victimizes him by demanding money when her male accomplice, pretending to be an outraged husband or relative, enters and threatens violence, scandal, etc.


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Word History and Origins

Origin of badger game1

First recorded in 1895–1900
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Idioms and Phrases

An extortion scheme in which a man is lured into a compromising position, usually by a woman, and then is “discovered” and blackmailed by her associate. For example, The prosecutor accused the couple of playing the badger game . The term alludes to the much older sport of badger-baiting, in which a live badger was trapped and put inside a box and dogs were set on it to drag it out. The woman in the scheme is the “badger.” [Late 1800s]
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Example Sentences

But he had preferred to speculate in blackmail and play the badger-game with his wife as an unwitting accomplice.

But the guy they double-crossed in New York, or worked the badger game on, or something like that, got on their trail.

A month ago she was again in trouble with the police—caught playing the badger game.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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