When used as verbs, badger means to pester, to annoy persistently, whereas pester means to bother, harass, or annoy persistently.

Why do they call it badgering?

*The children badgered their father into taking them to a movie. The idiom comes from the cruel sport of badger baiting. ... The injured animal was put back in the barrel or hole, and the cruel process was repeated several times till the poor badger had been ripped to pieces.

What is another name for badger?

Some common synonyms of badger are bait, chivy, heckle, hector, and hound.