Crossword clues for quibble
quibble
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Quibble \Quib"ble\, n. [Probably fr. quib, quip, but influenced by quillet, or quiddity.]
-
A shift or turn from the point in question; a trifling or evasive distinction; an evasion; a cavil.
Quibbles have no place in the search after truth. -- I. Watts.
A pun; a low conceit.
Quibble \Quib"ble\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Quibbled; p. pr. & vb. n. Quibbling.]
To evade the point in question by artifice, play upon words, caviling, or by raising any insignificant or impertinent question or point; to trifle in argument or discourse; to equivocate.
-
To pun; to practice punning.
--Cudworth.Syn: To cavil; shuffle; equivocate; trifle.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1610s, "a pun, a play on words," probably a diminutive of obsolete quib "evasion of point at issue," based on an overuse of Latin quibus? in legal jargon, which supposedly gave it the association with trivial argument. Meaning "equivocation, evasion of the point" is attested from 1660s.
"equivocate, evade the point, turn from the point in question or the plain truth," 1650s, from quibble (n.). Earlier "to pun" (1620s). Related: Quibbled; quibbling.
Wiktionary
n. 1 A trivial or minor complaint, objection or argument. 2 A shift or turn from the point in question; a trifling or evasive distinction; a cavil. 3 (context obsolete English) A pun. vb. (context intransitive English) To complain or argue in a trivial or petty manner.
WordNet
Wikipedia
A quibble may refer to:
- a trivial objection
- a pun, or play on words
- Quibble (plot device), in narratology
In terms of fiction, a quibble is a plot device, used to fulfill the exact verbal conditions of an agreement in order to avoid the intended meaning. Typically quibbles are used in legal bargains and, in fantasy, magically enforced ones.
William Shakespeare used a quibble in The Merchant of Venice. Portia saves Antonio in a court of law by pointing out that the agreement called for a pound of flesh, but no blood, and therefore Shylock can collect only if he sheds no blood, which is not physically possible.
Usage examples of "quibble".
Seregil paid his price without quibbling and Maklin threw in a sword belt, showing Alec how to wrap it twice around his waist 63 and fix the lacings so that the blade hung at the proper angle against his left hip.
A flaming execration blasted the whole heathen world, 22 and a metaphysical quibble doomed ninety nine of every hundred in Christian lands.
Pycelle and Merryweather were still quibbling about who the new High Septon was like to be.
Any questioning of the judges, quibbling, hair-splitting, or whining could yield a heavy fine, strippage, ejection, or all three.
A Jewish Rabbin relates the following conversation, as exultingly as if the quibbling evasion on which it turns positively settled the question itself, which in fact it does not approach.
At any rate, although there were quibbles in plenty, they lacked any real force, and the overwhelming majority of Tolkien fans seemed willing to embrace the movie in spite of departures from the Sacred Cannon.
If I had disembarked at Flensburg perfectly normally, and Mother had given birth to me there, I would not have been an exemplary case, and today would not provide any cause for quibbling.
He was notorious as a creature of pettifogging detail who loved the quibbles of the lawcourts and the squabbles of the church.
When a respectable member of the Syndic chooses to come to you for a line of credit, you will in the future give it without any tomfool quibbling about security.
There had been so much said about the privations of the prisoners that our Government had, after much quibbling and negotiation, succeeded in getting the privilege of sending food and clothing through the lines to us.
On the night of 23 October Bernie and Iris quibbled over what programmes to hear.
Madison, in opposition to the endless quibbles, chicaneries, perversions, vexations and delays of lawyers and demi-lawyers, most of the bills were passed by the legislature, with little alteration.
What is more, I know as certainly as if I had read it that his covering letter will be full of this fancied irregularity about the Cacafuego's command, this quibble over the officer's status.
Liberals make sport of a serious national defense policy with their absurd quibbles.
The plumbing was pre-World War II, the lighting was a single dim bulb hanging from the ceiling, and the carcass of an enormous cockroach lay on its back in the corner, but she wasn't in the mood to quibble.