Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der.
Proto-Germanic *bikjaną
Proto-West Germanic *bikkjan
Old Dutch *bikken
Middle Dutch bickenbor.
Proto-Germanic *-urōną
Proto-West Germanic *-urōn
Old English -erian
Middle English -eren
Middle English bikeren
English bicker
From Middle English bikeren (“to attack”), from Middle Dutch bicken (“to stab, thrust, attack”) + -er (frequentative suffix), from Old Dutch *bikken, from Proto-West Germanic *bikkjan, from Proto-Germanic *bikjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“to smash, break”).
See also Old English becca (“pickax”), Dutch bikken (“to hack”), German picken (“to peck, pick at”), Old Norse bikkja (“to plunge into water”); compare also German Low German bickern (“to nibble, gnaw”).
Meanings
(countable) A skirmish; an encounter.
(Scotland, countable, obsolete) A fight with stones between two parties of boys.
Even if he did not take part in the fighting himself, he was no doubt familiar with those who had been taught, ass Darsie Latimer was by Alan Fairford, to "smoke a cobbler, spin a lozen, head a bicker, and hold the bannets" - in other words, to break a window, head a skirmish with stones, and hold the bonnet[…] 1773, R. Ford, “Biographical Introduction”, in The Poetical Works of Robert Ferguson:
(countable, uncountable) A wrangle; also, a noise, as in angry contention.
(countable, uncountable) The process by which selective eating clubs at Princeton University choose new members.
Bicker process varies by club, and there are often concerns of the rights of female students during bicker […] 2005, Alison Fraser, Princeton University: Princeton, New Jersey, College Prowler, Inc, →ISBN, page 41:
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
bickers
Number=Plur
lexicographic
Translations (7)
ru стычка (skirmish) · fi kina (skirmish) · it bisticcio (skirmish) · it lite (skirmish) · fi nahistelu (skirmish) · fi kiista (skirmish) · cmn 衝突 /冲突 (skirmish)
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der.
Proto-Germanic *bikjaną
Proto-West Germanic *bikkjan
Old Dutch *bikken
Middle Dutch bickenbor.
Proto-Germanic *-urōną
Proto-West Germanic *-urōn
Old English -erian
Middle English -eren
Middle English bikeren
English bicker
From Middle English bikeren (“to attack”), from Middle Dutch bicken (“to stab, thrust, attack”) + -er (frequentative suffix), from Old Dutch *bikken, from Proto-West Germanic *bikkjan, from Proto-Germanic *bikjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“to smash, break”).
See also Old English becca (“pickax”), Dutch bikken (“to hack”), German picken (“to peck, pick at”), Old Norse bikkja (“to plunge into water”); compare also German Low German bickern (“to nibble, gnaw”).
Meanings
To quarrel in a tiresome, insulting manner.
They bickered about dinner every evening.
Travelling with their granny, who seems more interested in her crossword puzzle than them, they bicker and fight in a futile bid to get her attention. Oh, the joys of travelling during the school holidays! 2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 55:
petty things about which men cark and bicker a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number)”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC:
To brawl or move tremulously, quiver, shimmer (of a water stream, light, flame, etc.)
Mean time unnumber'd glittering Streamlets play'd, / And hurled every-where their Waters ſheen; / That, as they bicker'd through the ſunny Glade, / Though reſtleſs ſtill themſelves, a lulling Murmur made. 1748, James Thomson, “Canto I”, in The Castle of Indolence: […], London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, stanza III, page 2:
I come from haunts of coot and hern, / I make a sudden sally, / And sparkle out among the fern, / To bicker down a valley. 1886, Tennyson, The Brook:
(of rain) To patter.
To skirmish; to exchange blows; to fight.
And at the field fought before Bebriacum, ere the battailes joyned, tvvo Ægles had a conflict and bickered together in all their fights: and vvhen the one of them was foyled and overcome, a third came at the very inſtant from the ſunne riſing and chaſed the Victreſſe avvay. 1606, Caius [i.e., Gaius] Suetonius Tranquillus, “The Historie of Flavius Vespatianus Augustus”, in Philêmon Holland, transl., The Historie of Twelve Cæsars Emperours of Rome. […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes and George Snowdon] for Matthew Lownes, →OCLC, section 5, page 243:
it litigare (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · cmn 鬥嘴 /斗嘴 (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · is þrasa (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · ru переру́гиваться (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · sv gnabbas (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · is karpa (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · sv kivas (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · fi nahistella (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · mi komekome (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · mi korokīkī (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · de sich zanken (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · mi tarahae (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · pt rixar (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · da mundhugges (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · pl posprzeczać się (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · ca lluitar verbalment (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · da skændes (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · cy ymgecru (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · fi kiistellä (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · it bisticciare (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · sv käbbla (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · fi kinastella (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · pl sprzeczać się (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · bg дърля се (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · bg карам се (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · mh akwāāl (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · hu veszekedik (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · sv munhuggas (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · es discutir (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · ru препира́ться (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · ja 喧嘩する (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · nl kibbelen (quarrel in a tiresome manner) · la iūrgō (quarrel in a tiresome manner)
From Scots bicker, from Middle English biker. Doublet of beaker.
Meanings
(Scotland) A wooden drinking-cup or other dish.
…the liquors were handed around in great fulness, the ale in large wooden bickers, and the brandy in capacious horns of oxen. 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Oxford, published 2010, page 6: