Word of the Day Archive
Tuesday February 28, 2012
pettifog \PET-ee-fog\
, verb:
1. To bicker or quibble over trifles or unimportant matters.
2. To carry on a petty, shifty, or unethical law business.
3. To practice chicanery of any sort.
Marius, my boy, you are a baron, you are rich, don't pettifog, I beg of you.
-- Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
Naturally, the wonderful tubers Brillat-Savarin dug up and dished out lacked the penultimate refinements of washing and cooking, but it would've been gauche to pettifog.
-- Elizabeth Gundy, The Disappearance of Gregory Pluckrose
Pettifog comes from the Middle Dutch word voeger meaning one who arranges things and the word petty meaning insignificant.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for pettifog
