pettifogger

• I admired Mr. Cornell on many occasions, but never more than during that hour when he sat, without the slightest anger, mildly taking the abuse of that prostituted pettifogger, the indifference of the committee, and the laughter of the audience. —  Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White, V1
• They will cry That I'm a pettifogger, fortune-hunter, A beggar.--And besides it were not well To leave her in distress MYSIS. —  The Comedies of Terence
• The Governor "has dwindled into the mere instrument of an ambitious relative;" Tillotson was "a contemptible shuffling apothecary, without ingenuity or devise, or spirit to pursue any systematic plan of iniquity;" Richard Riker was "an imbecile and obsequious pettifogger, a vain and contemptible little pest, who abandoned the Federal standard on the third day of the election, in April, 1800;" John McKisson, "an execrable compound of every species of vice," was the man whom Clinton "exultingly declared a great scoundrel." —  A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3
• According to my view, pettifogger is neither more nor less than pettifolker_, i. e. one whose practice lies among the petty folk_, small tradesmen, day-labourers, and such like. —  Notes and Queries, Number 180, April 9, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc
• Well, had he had nothing to boast of beyond such a pedigree, he would have lived and died the son of a pettifogger, and been forgotten, and deservedly so; but he possessed talents, and by his talents rose like Murat, and like him will be remembered for his talents alone, and deservedly so. —  The Romany Rye a sequel to "Lavengro"

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

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