legal beagle
Syllables: le·gal bea·gleUK/ˌliːɡl̩ ˈbiːɡl̩//ˌliɡəl ˈbiɡəl/
legal beagle noun: a lawyer, specifically one regarded as astute and skilful.
Noun
legal beagle (plural legal beagles)
- A lawyer, specifically one regarded as astute and skilful.
- He was a prosecutor before entering private practice and gaining a reputation as a legal beagle.
- He offer'd submission in meekness and tears, / The fierce legal beagles to hush; / But they clapp'd him in Newgate a couple of years, / To keep him from—"Buying a Brush."1822 September 9, H[enry] Hunt, “Cobbett and His Man Bristle; or, ‘Buying a Brush’”, in To the Radical Reformers, Male and Female, of England, Scotland, and Ireland, London: […] T[homas] Dolby, […]...
- Synonyms:
- legal eagle, Philadelphia lawyer
Examples of legal beagle in a sentence
- For our part we are quite willing to pass the immortelles to Outerbridge Horsey, Banker Stillman's legal beagle.1921 December 24, Implement & Tractor, volume 36, Overland Park, Kan.: Intertec Publishing Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 21:
- You don't want to be a legal beagle about it.2010, Vicky Oliver, “Pounding the Pavement with Panache”, in 301 Smart Answers to Tough Business Etiquette Questions, New York, N.Y....
Synonyms of legal beagle
Forms of legal beagle
| plural | legal beagles |
|---|
Origin of legal beagle
From legal + beagle. Beagle was probably chosen for the rhyme and because beagles were traditionally used for hunting hares or rabbits, due to their keen sense of smell and tracking instinct. Compare legal eagle.
Words that rhyme with legal beagle
Questions about legal beagle
- What does legal beagle mean?
- Legal beagle means a lawyer, specifically one regarded as astute and skilful.
- How do you use legal beagle in a sentence?
- For our part we are quite willing to pass the immortelles to Outerbridge Horsey, Banker Stillman's legal beagle.
- What part of speech is legal beagle?
- Legal beagle is a noun.
- How do you pronounce legal beagle?
- Legal beagle is pronounced /ˌliːɡl̩ ˈbiːɡl̩/ (UK).
- What is the plural of legal beagle?
- The plural of legal beagle is legal beagles.
Words near legal beagle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: legal beagle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-legal beagle.wav, En-au-legal beagle.ogg.
Cite this entry: “legal beagle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/legal_beagle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.