PETTIFOGGING

PETTIFOG

quibble, niggle, pettifog, bicker, squabble, brabble

(verb) argue over petty things; “Let’s not quibble over pennies”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Verb

pettifogging

present participle of pettifog

Noun

pettifogging (plural pettifoggings)

pettifoggery

Source: Wiktionary


Pet"ti*fog`ging, a.

Definition: Paltry; quibbling; mean.

Pet"ti*fog`ging, n.

Definition: Pettifoggery.

PETTIFOG

Pet"ti*fog, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Pettifogged; p. pr. & vb. n. Pettifogging.] Etym: [Petty + fog to pettifog.]

Definition: To do a petty business as a lawyer; also, to do law business in a petty or tricky way. "He takes no money, but pettifogs gratis." S. Butler.

Pet"ti*fog, v. t.

Definition: To advocate like a pettifogger; to argue trickily; as, to pettifog a claim. [Colloq.]

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

12 February 2025

MEGACOLON

(noun) an abnormal enlargement of the colon; can be congenital (as in Hirschsprung’s disease) or acquired (as when children refuse to defecate)


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