pettifogged

It is true that he made amends by adding, when his lecture was published, a counter statement; but that such a man should have seriously cited such a work shows the widespread mischief done among people not versed in engineering lore by the admirably written romance of Smiles, who as Edward C. Knight, in his Mechanical Dictionary, truly declares, has "pettifogged the whole case."

Scientific American Supplement, No. 620, November 19,1887 Various

But Fom was never known to lie; she only pettifogged.

The Madigans Miriam Michelson 1906

The advice given yesterday with an assurance that only a settled and undoubting conviction could possibly excuse, was to-day pettifogged away mainly on the ground of Charley's worldly prosperity.

The Faith Doctor A Story of New York Edward Eggleston 1869

Fancy a creature that has pettifogged, as an underling too, all his life. '

That Stick Charlotte Mary Yonge 1862

Verb to pettifog (third-person singular simple present pettifogs, present participle pettifogging, simple past and past participle pettifogged) 8500 was just a number I picked out of thin air.

hazel8500 Hazel 2010

"self-evident," since become awkward of acceptance, were ever thus pettifogged out of the path, and fundamental principles have in this way prescriptively been tampered with.

"Imperialism" and "The Tracks of Our Forefathers" Charles Francis Adams 1875