to bicker or quibble over trifles or unimportant matters
2.
to carry on a petty, shifty, or unethical law business
3.
to practice chicanery of any sort
Derived forms
pettifogger
noun
pettifoggery
noun
Word origin
[1605–15; back formation from pettifogger, equiv. to petty + fogger ‹ MLG voger or MD voeger one who arranges things; akin to OE gefōg a joining]This word is first recorded in the period 1605–15. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: classic, crater, inverse, pivot, turnover