bicker — English Dictionary

Verb

1. To quarrel in a tiresome, insulting manner.

   Examples

   They bickered about dinner every evening.

   petty things about which men cark and bicker

   More examples (1)

   Travelling with their granny, who seems more interested in her crossword puzzle than them, they bicker and fight in a futile bid to get her attention. Oh, the joys of travelling during the school holidays!

2. To brawl or move tremulously, quiver, shimmer (of a water stream, light, flame, etc.)

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Mean time unnumber'd glittering Streamlets play'd, / And hurled every-where their Waters ſheen; / That, as they bicker'd through the ſunny Glade, / Though reſtleſs ſtill themſelves, a lulling Murmur made.

   I come from haunts of coot and hern, / I make a sudden sally, / And sparkle out among the fern, / To bicker down a valley.

3. To patter.

   Usage

   • of rain

4. To skirmish; to exchange blows; to fight.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   And at the field fought before Bebriacum, ere the battailes joyned, tvvo Ægles had a conflict and bickered together in all their fights: and vvhen the one of them was foyled and overcome, a third came at the very inſtant from the ſunne riſing and chaſed the Victreſſe avvay.

Noun

1. A skirmish; an encounter.

   Usage

   • Countable

2. A fight with stones between two parties of boys.

   Usage

   • Scotland
   • Countable
   • Obsolete

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Even if he did not take part in the fighting himself, he was no doubt familiar with those who had been taught, ass Darsie Latimer was by Alan Fairford, to "smoke a cobbler, spin a lozen, head a bicker, and hold the bannets" - in other words, to break a window, head a skirmish with stones, and hold the bonnet[…]

3. A wrangle; also, a noise, as in angry contention.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

4. The process by which selective eating clubs at Princeton University choose new members.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Bicker process varies by club, and there are often concerns of the rights of female students during bicker […]

Noun

1. A wooden drinking-cup or other dish.

   Usage

   • Scotland

   Examples

   …the liquors were handed around in great fulness, the ale in large wooden bickers, and the brandy in capacious horns of oxen.

Noun

1. a quarrel about petty points

   Synonyms

   bickeringspattiffsquabblepettifoggeryfuss

   Broader terms

   quarrelwranglerowwordsrun-industup

Verb

1. argue over petty things

   Synonyms

   quibblenigglepettifogsquabblebrabble

   Broader terms

   arguecontenddebatefence

   Examples

   Let's not quibble over pennies