Unnumbered source etymology
Original entry ↗noun
A petty or trivial objection or criticism.
verb
Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventoryTo criticise for petty or frivolous reasons.
From Old French caviller (“mock, jest, rail”), from Latin cavillor (“jeer, mock, satirise, reason captiously”), from cavilla (“jeering, raillery, scoffing”); cognate with Italian cavillare, Portuguese cavillar, and Spanish cavilar; nominal usage developed within English from the original verbal usage.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "fro",
"3": "caviller",
"4": "",
"5": "mock, jest, rail"
},
"expansion": "Old French caviller (“mock, jest, rail”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "la",
"3": "cavillor",
"4": "",
"5": "jeer, mock, satirise, reason captiously"
},
"expansion": "Latin cavillor (“jeer, mock, satirise, reason captiously”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "it",
"2": "cavillare"
},
"expansion": "Italian cavillare"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "pt",
"2": "cavillar"
},
"expansion": "Portuguese cavillar"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "es",
"2": "cavilar"
},
"expansion": "Spanish cavilar"
}
],
"links": [
[
"caviller",
"caviller#Old_French"
],
[
"cavillor",
"cavillor#Latin"
],
[
"captiously",
"captiously"
],
[
"cavilla",
"cavilla#Latin"
],
[
"cavillare",
"cavillare#Italian"
],
[
"cavillar",
"cavillar#Portuguese"
],
[
"cavilar",
"cavilar#Spanish"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"A petty or trivial objection or criticism."
],
"tags": [],
"recordId": "14c1fab166115d0539896bdc4648bb93852f787074adad3dc9e465c5d593a28d",
"rawRecordSha256": "4a449729dc17f7da9614b03288b1c215455fdebe2fb2ccd93c3474645d64dd75",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 226797
},
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To criticise for petty or frivolous reasons."
],
"tags": [
"intransitive"
],
"recordId": "ef9676eac2d62ec8d0295a87fadf4fa48d7b1e2e9399f2828f852fdb3a184f8e",
"rawRecordSha256": "df7acd3c6e1dac6212a3c398ad55bd3acb9bfd80d1e6e45b94edc791f07c27f8",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 226796
}
],
"omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
"templates": 0,
"links": 0,
"references": 0,
"descendants": 0,
"lexicalRecords": 0,
"lexicalSenses": 0,
"glosses": 0
}
}