What does pettifogger mean?
Definitions for pettifogger
pet·ti·fog·ger
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word pettifogger.
Princeton's WordNet
shyster, pettifoggernoun
a person (especially a lawyer or politician) who uses unscrupulous or unethical methods
quibbler, caviller, caviler, pettifoggernoun
a disputant who quibbles; someone who raises annoying petty objections
Wiktionary
pettifoggernoun
Someone who quibbles over trivia, and raises petty, annoying objections.
pettifoggernoun
An unscrupulous or unethical lawyer, especially one of lesser skill.
Etymology: From petty + fogger.
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
Pettifoggernoun
A petty small-rate lawyer.
Etymology: corrupted from pettivoguer; petit and voguer, Fr.
The worst conditioned and least cliented petivoguers get, under the sweet bait of revenge, more plentiful prosecution of actions. Richard Carew, Survey of Cornwall.
Your pettifoggers damn their souls
To share with knaves in cheating fools. Hudibras.Consider, my dear, how indecent it is to abandon your shop and follow pettifoggers; there is hardly a plea between two country esquires about a barren acre, but you draw yourself in as bail, surety or solicitor. John Arbuthnot, Hist. of J. Bull.
Physicians are apt to despise empiricks, lawyers, pettifoggers, merchants and pedlars. Jonathan Swift.
ChatGPT
pettifogger
A pettifogger is a person who unnecessarily complicates or exaggerates minor disputes or issues, especially a lawyer who resorts to unscrupulous or deceptive practices in petty cases for personal gain.
Webster Dictionary
Pettifoggernoun
a lawyer who deals in petty cases; an attorney whose methods are mean and tricky; an inferior lawyer
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Pettifogger
pet′i-fog-ėr, n. a lawyer who practises only in paltry cases.—v.i. Pett′ifog, to play the pettifogger.—n. Pett′ifoggery, mean tricks: quibbles.—adj. Pett′ifogging. [Petty, and obs. fog, to cheat (cf. Old Dut. focker).]
Matched Categories
Usage in printed sourcesFrom:
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Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of pettifogger in Chaldean Numerology is: 5
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of pettifogger in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2
References
Translations for pettifogger
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
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"pettifogger." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 Dec. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/pettifogger>.
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