Dictionary

pettifogger en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɛtɪˌfɔɡɚ/ (General-American)
• (US) audio
• /ˈpɛtɪˌfɒɡə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈpɛtɪˌfɑɡɚ/ (General-American)

Etymology

petty + fogger

Meanings

1. Someone who quibbles over trivia, and raises petty, annoying objections and sophistry.
   • 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. 1809, Washington Irving, chapter 39, in Knickerbocker's History of New York:
2. An unscrupulous or unethical lawyer, especially one of lesser skill.
   • "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. 1822, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 11, in The Fortunes of Nigel:
   • . . .yet he has never sought by browbeating and other arts of the pettifogger, to confuse, baffle, and bewilder a witness. . . . 1885, The Bay State Monthly, volume 3, number 6:
   • 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,... 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:
   • "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." 1926 June 28, “National Affairs: Blind Mans Huff”, in Time:

Forms

Relateds

pettifoggery · pettifog

Synonyms

shyster · nitpicker (someone who quibbles)

Translations (40)

sv lagvrängare (An unscrupulous lawyer) · la rabula (An unscrupulous lawyer) · nl mierenneuker (Someone who quibbles) · es abogadillo (An unscrupulous lawyer) · fi pilkunviilaaja (Someone who quibbles) · es leguleyo (An unscrupulous lawyer) · de Rechtsverdreher (An unscrupulous lawyer) · bg педант (Someone who quibbles) · nl muggenzifter (Someone who quibbles) · pl przechera (Someone who quibbles) · es buscapleitos (An unscrupulous lawyer) · da lommeprokurator (An unscrupulous lawyer) · de Erbsenzähler (Someone who quibbles) · es picapleitos (An unscrupulous lawyer) · la lēgulēius (Someone who quibbles) · de Winkeladvokat (An unscrupulous lawyer) · de Kleingeist (Someone who quibbles) · cmn 訟棍 /讼棍 (An unscrupulous lawyer) · sv krångelmakare (Someone who quibbles) · nb ordkløyver (Someone who quibbles) · de Wortklauber (Someone who quibbles) · fr chicaneur (An unscrupulous lawyer) · sv brännvinsadvokat (An unscrupulous lawyer) · sv hårklyvare (Someone who quibbles) · la lēgulēius (An unscrupulous lawyer) · nb vinkelskriver (An unscrupulous lawyer) · es tinterillo (An unscrupulous lawyer) · pt rábula (An unscrupulous lawyer) · bg буквояд (Someone who quibbles) · fr avocaillon (An unscrupulous lawyer) · es soplacausas (An unscrupulous lawyer) · da lovtrækker (An unscrupulous lawyer) · de Haarspalter (Someone who quibbles) · da ordkløver (Someone who quibbles) · es rábula (An unscrupulous lawyer) · it leguleio (An unscrupulous lawyer) · pl kłótnica (Someone who quibbles) · da vinkelskriver (An unscrupulous lawyer) · cs vinklář (An unscrupulous lawyer) · pl kłótnik (Someone who quibbles)