Hypertext Webster Gateway: "pettifogging"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Pettifogging \Pet"ti*fog`ging\, a.
Paltry; quibbling; mean.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Pettifogging \Pet"ti*fog`ging\, n.
Pettifoggery.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Pettifog \Pet"ti*fog\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Pettifogged}; p. pr.
& vb. n. {Pettifogging}.] [Petty + fog to pettifog.]
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.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
pettifogging
adj : quibbling over insignificant details; "caviling pettifoggers
and quiggling pleaders"-Edmund Burke; "her nagging and
carping attack"; "thought her editor unnecessarily
nitpicking"; "a pettifogging lawyer's mind"; "had no
patience with quibbling critics" [syn: {caviling}, {carping},
{nitpicking}, {quibbling}]
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