tergiversated

We proposed to make it a Midshipman Easy duel, a three-cornered fight -- Brothers Homan and Benson vs. the "Apostle," but they wiggled in and they wiggled out, they temporized and tergiversated until we saw there wasn't an ounce of fight in the whole Prohibition crew -- that, after their flamboyant defi, we couldn't pull 'em into a joint debate with a span of mules and a log-cabin.

The Complete Works of Brann the Iconoclast, Volume 12 1919

In pitting against himself those who had so powerfully succoured him in his misfortune, Condé ought at least to have drawn closer to the Court and had a serious understanding with the Queen; but he tergiversated, and at the end of some months of that wavering policy, he found himself standing unmasked between the Court and the Fronde, both equally discontented with him, repeating and exaggerating the blunder committed by Mazarin.

Political Women (Vol. 1 of 2) Sutherland Menzies 1861

Second, Washington tergiversated in its support to the Cedars Revolution.

Counterterrorism Blog 2009

I do not remember the date that Specter tergiversated, but, up ’til 1/19/10, Specter was the 60th vote.

The Volokh Conspiracy » It’s Not the Crime, It’s the Cover-Up — Sestak Edition 2010

I do not remember the date that Specter tergiversated, but, up ’til 1/19/10, Specter was the 60th vote.

The Volokh Conspiracy » It’s Not the Crime, It’s the Cover-Up — Sestak Edition 2010