PETTIFOG

PRONUNCIATION: (PET-ee-fog)

MEANING: verb intr.:
1. To quibble over trivial matters.
2. To engage in petty, often legalistic, chicanery.

ETYMOLOGY:
Back-formation from pettifogger, from petty (small) + fogger, perhaps after Fuggers, a Bavarian family of merchants in the 15th and 16th centuries. Earliest documented use: 1611.
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PETTIFIG - diminutive fruit of the genus Ficus

PETRI FOG - why I can't see what's growing on my bacteriology culture dish

PETTI-FOR - small sweet pastry for the orthographically challenged