Crossword clues for niggle
niggle
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Niggle \Nig"gle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Niggled; p. pr. & vb. n.
Niggling.] [Dim. of Prov. E. nig to clip money; cf. also
Prov. E. nig a small piece.]
To trifle with; to deceive; to mock. [Obs.]
--Beau. & Fl.
Niggle \Nig"gle\, v. i.
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To trifle or play.
Take heed, daughter, You niggle not with your conscience and religion.
--Massinger. To act or walk mincingly. [Prov. Eng.]
To fret and snarl about trifles. [Prov. Eng.]
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(Chiefly Eng.)
1. To move about restlessly or without result; to fidget.
To be finicky or excessively critical; to potter; esp., to work with excessive care for trifling details, as in painting.
Niggle \Nig"gle\, v. t.
To use, spend, or do in a petty or trifling manner.
To elaborate excessively, as in art.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1590s (implied in niggling), possibly from a Scandinavian source (compare Norwegian dialectal nigla "be busy with trifles"), perhaps related to source of niggard. Related: Niggled; niggling; niggler.
Wiktionary
n. 1 A minor complaint or problem. 2 (context obsolete English) Small, cramped handwriting. vb. 1 (cx transitive obsolete English) To trifle with; to deceive; to mock. 2 (cx transitive English) To use, spend, or do in a petty or trifling manner. 3 (cx intransitive English) To dwell too much on minor points or on trifling details. 4 (cx intransitive mostly UK English) To fidget, fiddle, be restless.
WordNet
Usage examples of "niggle".
Despite the slight niggling sense of sinfulness that now and again flickered across her dyed-in-the-wool Protestant brain, she was at peace with herself.
Previously he had always niggled, been sarcastic, been pompously self-righteous, huffed and puffed a bit.
Wong prescribed an antiemetic, but there was something about the case that niggled at her.
Caralie frowned, a niggling ache appearing at the place where she'd banged her head.
Jewlan had a niggling suspicion that by entering the wrong combination she’d inadvertently triggered some sort of protective dampening field.
He follows down into warmth, into darkness, one question in the back of his mind, niggling as beggar's lice against bare skin.
Then again the Company had done her proud - no royal dockyard’s niggling over a halfpennyworth of tar - and her sumptuous refit, her new sails, new copper, beautiful Manilla cordage, had brought back much of her youth: it had not dealt with certain deep-seated structural defects, the result of age and the Marengo’s handling of her, but for the moment all was well, and she raced southwards as though she had a galleon in chase.
Then again the Company had done her proud - no royal dockyard's niggling over a halfpennyworth of tar - and her sumptuous refit, her new sails, new copper, beautiful Manilla cordage, had brought back much of her youth: it had not dealt with certain deep-seated structural defects, the result of age and the Marengo's handling of her, but for the moment all was well, and she raced southwards as though she had a galleon in chase.
Normally Mildred would be able to keep a cool head, but after the niggling provocation of the past couple of days, it was to prove almost impossible.
Paranoid and self-serving as that thought was, it niggled at her like a sore tooth, something she couldn’t help putting her tongue into from time to time.
But, somehow, the feeling niggled at him that she was not as dead-set against a free-trade port as he was.
The odds of meeting with a space accident twice in a lifetime were in the millions, but it still niggled at her.
The scheme did sound well-planned, and yet some maggot of doubt niggled at Killashandra -- but her unease could well arise from her poor state of health.
But something niggled at the back of Byron's mind: something was missing from this room, it seemed.
Again the faint memory of Raum turning to Axis outside the Avarinheim and calling something about Faraday back to her son niggled at her mind.