budge v, hence vbl n budging chiefly IA, MN, WI
To push oneself into a line of people; to push oneself in front of (someone) in a line; to push oneself into (a line); hence n budger one who does this; v back-budge to push oneself into a line behind (someone).
1967 Humboldt Independent (IA) 25 Feb 8/1, Budging. . . One of the biggest problems faced by students and teachers alike at HHS is people who move ahead in the lunch line, more commonly known as budgers. . . How many . . at one time or another have budged in the lunch line? 1992 in 2015 DARE File—Internet ceWI, [From the song “Com’ere Once” by the Happy Schnapps Combo:] Or you can go dere by dat bubbler, but don’t you budge in line / She’s a nice day out, ain’ so / The stranger said “I still don’t grasp a word you people say / Are you from some foreign land or were you born this way?” 2001 DARE File csWI, I grew up in Janesville in the 1950s at a time when parents wouldn’t let their children say the word butt. So rather than talking about butting in line, when someone elbowed or shouldered his way in, we said he was budging in line. 2002 WI State Jrl. (Madison) 24 Feb sec G 1/1 csWI, Budgers could learn from little ones. . . Meanwhile, the ex-governor, Tommy G. Thompson, . . budged a line at the Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. . . [T]he kindergarten teacher I know best is 25-year veteran LaNell Wagner at the Oregon Prairie View Elementary School, where budging is not tolerated among the 5-year-olds. [She reported,] “When I started, it wasn’t called ‘budging,’ it was called ‘bumping.’ ” 2002 DARE File csWI, csMN, A student from Madison in my dialects class . . mentioned an interesting use of ‘budge’. She uses it to mean “cut in line in front of someone”, with a counterpart ‘back budge’ to mean “cut in line behind someone”. . . [T]he student I mentioned . . tells me that it is often used in the expression “he budged me” or “don’t budge me”, that is, as a transitive verb. . . The same applies to “backbudge”. . . I have identified two other locations where it is also used: another student in class from Rockton, IL along the Wisconsin border tells me that it is used in his town. However, another student from Wheaton (further south near Chicago) has never heard of it. . . A colleague now at Carleton College in Northfield, MN says it is used there as well. 2006 Ibid ceWI, I . . gave ‘budge’ as an example of a relatively recent word. There was a set of four teachers (mostly or all kindergarten) from Green Bay in the audience. One of them almost jumped up and said ‘don’t budge!’. Turns out, two of them hear it constantly and the other two didn’t know it at all. They talked among themselves about it and decided it was socio-economic status: The two who know the word work in relatively prosperous schools, the two who didn’t work in lower-income schools. 2012 DARE File—Internet cIA, MN, NY, [Resps to a blog post:] We budged in Central Iowa. . . [Concur with the usage of “budge” in western Canada. Well—actually, “don’t budge in line” sounds odd to my ears, but “hey, no budging!” is fine.] . . Growing up in upstate NY, budging referred to inserting oneself into a line out of turn, as in, “Hey! S/he just budged!” Usually the accuser is the one most immediately affected: “You just budged in front of me!” Where I’m from, the reference to the line is understood, so most would find “He just budged in line” to be redundant. . . During my Minnesota childhood in the ’50s “butting in line” was always used. Our children’s generation said “budging in line” or “budging”. My wife, an elementary teacher, remembers the changeover happening in the ’70s.