"pettifog" meaning in All languages combined

See pettifog on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

IPA: /ˈpɛt.iˌfɒɡ/ [UK] Forms: pettifogs [present, singular, third-person], pettifogging [participle, present], pettifogged [participle, past], pettifogged [past]
Etymology: Back-formation from pettifogger. Etymology templates: {{back-form|en|pettifogger}} Back-formation from pettifogger Head templates: {{en-verb|++}} pettifog (third-person singular simple present pettifogs, present participle pettifogging, simple past and past participle pettifogged)
  1. (intransitive) To quibble over trivial matters; nitpick. Tags: intransitive
    Sense id: en-pettifog-en-verb-xs6BIwY3 Categories (other): English back-formations, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English back-formations: 56 44 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 83 17 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 69 31 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 91 9
  2. (intransitive) To do a petty business as a lawyer, or carry out law business in a petty or tricky way. Tags: intransitive
    Sense id: en-pettifog-en-verb-7ZMi8L0F
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: squabble Related terms: pettifogger

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "pettifogger"
      },
      "expansion": "Back-formation from pettifogger",
      "name": "back-form"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Back-formation from pettifogger.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pettifogs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pettifogging",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pettifogged",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pettifogged",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "++"
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      "expansion": "pettifog (third-person singular simple present pettifogs, present participle pettifogging, simple past and past participle pettifogged)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "pettifogger"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "56 44",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English back-formations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "83 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "69 31",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "91 9",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Don't pettifog or we will soon grow weary.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1959 April 24, Walt Kelly, Pogo, comic strip, →ISBN, page 35:",
          "text": "[Deacon Mushrat to Pogo:] The Machiavellian barratry of a pettifogging public has maundered into do-nothingism.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To quibble over trivial matters; nitpick."
      ],
      "id": "en-pettifog-en-verb-xs6BIwY3",
      "links": [
        [
          "quibble",
          "quibble"
        ],
        [
          "trivial",
          "trivial"
        ],
        [
          "nitpick",
          "nitpick"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To quibble over trivial matters; nitpick."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "S. Butler\nHe is a common barreter for his pleasure, that takes no money, but pettifogs gratis."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To do a petty business as a lawyer, or carry out law business in a petty or tricky way."
      ],
      "id": "en-pettifog-en-verb-7ZMi8L0F",
      "links": [
        [
          "petty",
          "petty"
        ],
        [
          "business",
          "business"
        ],
        [
          "lawyer",
          "lawyer"
        ],
        [
          "carry out",
          "carry out"
        ],
        [
          "law",
          "law"
        ],
        [
          "tricky",
          "tricky"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To do a petty business as a lawyer, or carry out law business in a petty or tricky way."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpɛt.iˌfɒɡ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "squabble"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pettifog"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English back-formations",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "pettifogger"
      },
      "expansion": "Back-formation from pettifogger",
      "name": "back-form"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Back-formation from pettifogger.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pettifogs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pettifogging",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pettifogged",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pettifogged",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "++"
      },
      "expansion": "pettifog (third-person singular simple present pettifogs, present participle pettifogging, simple past and past participle pettifogged)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "pettifogger"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Don't pettifog or we will soon grow weary.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1959 April 24, Walt Kelly, Pogo, comic strip, →ISBN, page 35:",
          "text": "[Deacon Mushrat to Pogo:] The Machiavellian barratry of a pettifogging public has maundered into do-nothingism.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To quibble over trivial matters; nitpick."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "quibble",
          "quibble"
        ],
        [
          "trivial",
          "trivial"
        ],
        [
          "nitpick",
          "nitpick"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To quibble over trivial matters; nitpick."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "S. Butler\nHe is a common barreter for his pleasure, that takes no money, but pettifogs gratis."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To do a petty business as a lawyer, or carry out law business in a petty or tricky way."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "petty",
          "petty"
        ],
        [
          "business",
          "business"
        ],
        [
          "lawyer",
          "lawyer"
        ],
        [
          "carry out",
          "carry out"
        ],
        [
          "law",
          "law"
        ],
        [
          "tricky",
          "tricky"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To do a petty business as a lawyer, or carry out law business in a petty or tricky way."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpɛt.iˌfɒɡ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "squabble"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pettifog"
}

Download raw JSONL data for pettifog meaning in All languages combined (2.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (95d2be1 and 64224ec). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.