Pettifogger - Wiktionary

Jump to content

Contents

move to sidebar hide

• Beginning
• 1 English Toggle English subsection
  • 1.1 Etymology
  • 1.2 Pronunciation
  • 1.3 Noun
    • 1.3.1 Synonyms
    • 1.3.2 Related terms
    • 1.3.3 Translations

• Entry
• Discussion

English

• Read
• Edit
• View history

Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions

• Read
• Edit
• View history

General

• What links here
• Related changes
• Upload file
• Permanent link
• Page information
• Cite this page
• Get shortened URL

Print/export

• Create a book
• Download as PDF
• Printable version

In other projects Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

[edit] WOTD – 31 July 2007

Etymology

[edit]

petty + fogger

Pronunciation

[edit]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpɛtɪˌfɒɡə/
• (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɛtɪˌfɑɡɚ/, /ˈpɛtɪˌfɔɡɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒɡə(ɹ)

Noun

[edit]

pettifogger (plural pettifoggers)

1. Someone who quibbles over trivia, and raises petty, annoying objections and sophistry.
   • 1809, Washington Irving, chapter 39, in Knickerbocker's History of New York:Hence the cunning measure of appointing as ambassador some political pettifogger skilled in delays, sophisms, and misapprehensions, and dexterous in the art of baffling argument.
2. An unscrupulous or unethical lawyer, especially one of lesser skill. Synonym: shyster
   • 1822, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 11, in The Fortunes of Nigel:"An inn, or a tavern . . . these are places where greasy citizens take pipe and pot, where the knavish pettifoggers of the law spunge on their most unhappy victims.
   • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter LXX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 257:This gentleman (for such he was, however strange ladies who class country attorneys with vulgar pettifoggers in fashionable novels may deem the assertion) was the son of a brave officer,...
   • 1885, The Bay State Monthly, volume 3, number 6:. . .yet he has never sought by browbeating and other arts of the pettifogger, to confuse, baffle, and bewilder a witness. . . .
   • 1926 June 28, “National Affairs: Blind Mans Huff”, in Time:"Donald Hughes, well known in Minneapolis as a conscienceless shyster, was placed in charge of the case. . . . Mr. Edgerton, a high class, reputable lawyer, was called in of counsel from another city to lend respectability to the crooked, unprincipled, blackmailing pettifogger, Hughes."

Synonyms

[edit]

• (someone who quibbles): nitpicker

Related terms

[edit]

• pettifog
• pettifoggery

Translations

[edit] Someone who quibbles

Bulgarian: буквояд m (bukvojad), педант (bg) m (pedant) Danish: ordkløver (da) c Dutch: muggenzifter (nl) m, mierenneuker (nl) m Finnish: pilkunviilaaja German: Haarspalter (de) m, Erbsenzähler (de) m, Wortklauber (de) m, Kleingeist (de) m Latin: lēgulēius m Norwegian: Bokmål: ordkløyver m Polish: kłótnik (pl) m, kłótnica f, przechera (pl) m or f Swedish: krångelmakare (sv), hårklyvare

An unscrupulous lawyer

Chinese: Mandarin: 訟棍 / 讼棍 (zh) (sònggùn) Czech: vinklář (cs) m Danish: vinkelskriver c (unqualified legal practitioner), lovtrækker c, lommeprokurator c French: avocaillon (fr) m, chicaneur (fr) m German: Winkeladvokat (de) m, Rechtsverdreher (de) m Italian: leguleio (it) Latin: lēgulēius m, rabula m Norwegian: Bokmål: vinkelskriver (no) m Portuguese: rábula m Spanish: leguleyo (es) m, picapleitos (es) m or f, buscapleitos (es) m or f, rábula m or f, soplacausas, abogadillo m, tinterillo (es) m Swedish: brännvinsadvokat (sv), lagvrängare

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=pettifogger&oldid=88587548" Categories:

• English 4-syllable words
• English terms with IPA pronunciation
• English terms with audio pronunciation
• Rhymes:English/ɒɡə(ɹ)
• Rhymes:English/ɒɡə(ɹ)/4 syllables
• English lemmas
• English nouns
• English countable nouns
• English terms with quotations
• en:People
• en:Stock characters

Hidden categories:

• Word of the day archive/2007
• Word of the day archive
• Word of the day archive/2007/July
• Pages with entries
• Pages with 1 entry
• Quotation templates to be cleaned
• Entries with translation boxes
• Terms with Bulgarian translations
• Terms with Danish translations
• Terms with Dutch translations
• Terms with Finnish translations
• Terms with German translations
• Terms with Latin translations
• Terms with Norwegian Bokmål translations
• Terms with Polish translations
• Terms with Swedish translations
• Terms with Mandarin translations
• Terms with Czech translations
• Terms with French translations
• Terms with Italian translations
• Terms with Portuguese translations
• Terms with Spanish translations

Search Search Toggle the table of contents pettifogger 17 languages Add topic