pettifog

«pettifog» in Mova's school dictionary: To argue about small, unimportant details in a fussy way — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

verb (pettifog, pettifogs, pettifogged, pettifogging — old, rare)

meaning for a pupil

1) (old) To argue about small, unimportant details in a fussy way. tree →

2) (old) To act as a petty, tricky lawyer who works on small, mean cases. tree →

sense in the lessons

Very rare; found in old books, mostly as «pettifogging» (fussy about tiny details) and «pettifogger» (a petty, tricky lawyer). In stories it describes a fussy, mean-minded person who argues about nothing, like the court in Alice's trial.

examples

• Stop pettifogging about the rules and let's play! tree →
• The pettifogging clerk counted every penny. tree →
• He was called a pettifogger by the angry judge. tree →
• The old lawyer would pettifog for hours over a comma. tree →
• Don't pettifog — the main idea is right. tree →

note

Rare and old-fashioned. Commonest form: the adjective «pettifogging». Related to «petty» (small, unimportant).

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «pettifog» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.