Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To engage in a bad-tempered quarrel, often in a petty manner over something trivial; squabble. synonym: argue.
  • intransitive verb To flicker or glitter.
  • intransitive verb To move or flow with a rippling or gurgling sound.
  • noun An angry quarrel; a squabble.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A bowl or dish for containing liquor, properly one made of wood; a drinking-cup; also, specifically, in many parts of Scotland, a wooden dish made of staves and hoops, like a tub, for holding food.
  • To exchange blows; skirmish; fight off and on: said particularly of the skirmishing of archers and slingers.
  • To quarrel; contend in words; engage in petulant altercation; wrangle.
  • Hence —3. To make a brawling sound; make any repeated noisy action; clatter.
  • To run rapidly; move quickly; quiver; be tremulous, like flame or water.
  • To make a short rapid run.
  • To strike repeatedly.
  • noun A fight, especially a confused fight.
  • noun A quarrel; an angry dispute; an altercation.
  • noun A confused or rapid succession of sounds; a rattling or clattering noise.
  • noun A short rapid run or race; a staggering run, as from loss of equilibrium.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb obsolete To skirmish; to exchange blows; to fight.
  • intransitive verb To contend in petulant altercation; to wrangle.
  • intransitive verb To move quickly and unsteadily, or with a pattering noise; to quiver; to be tremulous, like flame.
  • noun obsolete A skirmish; an encounter.
  • noun Scot. A fight with stones between two parties of boys.
  • noun A wrangle; also, a noise,, as in angry contention.
  • noun Prov. Eng. A small wooden vessel made of staves and hoops, like a tub.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To quarrel in a tiresome, insulting manner.
  • verb To move tremulously, quiver, shimmer (of a water stream, of a flame)
  • noun A skirmish; an encounter.
  • noun Scotland, obsolete A fight with stones between two parties of boys.
  • noun A wrangle; also, a noise, as in angry contention.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb argue over petty things
  • noun a quarrel about petty points

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bikeren, to attack.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English bikeren ‘to attack’, from Middle Dutch bicken ‘to stab, attack’ (modern bikken ‘to hack’), from Proto-Germanic *bikjanan (compare Old English becca ‘pickax’, German picken ‘to peck, pick at’, Old Norse bikkja ‘to plunge into water’), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- ‘to smash, break’.

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Examples

  • After a season spent clamoring at the door for admission like the rest of the rabble, Kennedy, a svelte, self-assured African-American sophomore with straight, shoulder-length hair and a fondness for cable-knit sweaters, had recently emerged from Ivy's Darwinian "bicker" process — a prim rendition of rush — as one of the chosen few: a member of the club.

    Black in the Age of Obama 2009

  • But to all of a sudden for them to "bicker", Wright does his thing on other networks, while Obama is able to distance himself from him during conferences.

    Obama On Wright: "I Might Not Know Him As Well As I Thought" 2009

  • What Obama -- and TPM readers here trying to convince us to "keep our eye on the ball" and stay united rather than "bicker" internall -- needs to understand is: the Presidential election is a done deal.

    Why Obama's Support For FISA Cave-In Is Such A Downer 2009

  • They had a process like "bicker" and they chose people that they thought fit in with the group.

    CNN Transcript Jan 10, 2006 2006

  • Walter Scott was all but a dunce when a boy, always much readier for a "bicker," than apt at his lessons.

    Self help; with illustrations of conduct and perseverance Samuel Smiles 1858

  • Among the passions of this literary "bicker," which Scott allowed to amuse him, was Davie Deans conceived.

    The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Complete Walter Scott 1801

  • With such efforts, however, considerable as they were for a boy who passionately loved a "bicker" in the streets and who was famed among his comrades for bravery in climbing the perilous "kittle nine stanes" on Castle Rock, he was not content.

    Lady of the Lake Walter Scott 1801

  • Among the passions of this literary "bicker," which Scott allowed to amuse him, was Davie Deans conceived.

    The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 1 Walter Scott 1801

  • And still the candidates pontificate and debate, and their supporters bicker about nonsense in the comments bit under videos on YouTube.

    Current Affairs Maxine 2009

  • So I think you guys SHOULD bicker about nonsensical horseshit.

    Matthew Yglesias » Olivier Blanchard on the Case for Higher Inflation 2010

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