To wrangle, dispute, or struggle awkwardly; to haggle or argue about details (archaic or dialectal).
Possibly a variant or blend of 'haggle' and 'angle' or 'hang,' from Middle English dialect. The exact origin is unclear, but it suggests struggling or grasping movements combined with dispute, appearing in old English and Scottish texts.
Archaic words like 'hangle' preserve moments of linguistic evolution—it might be a blend word created when speakers mixed 'haggle' and 'wrangle,' and if it had caught on, English would have one fewer word; instead, it survives only in old dictionaries as a linguistic ghost.
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