▪ I. quibble, n.
(ˈkwɪb(ə)l)
[? dim. of quib.]
1. A play upon words, a pun.
| 1611 L. Barry Ram Alley iii. i, We old men have our crotchets, our conundrums, Our figaries, quirks and quibbles, As well as youth. 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. i. §2 (1737) I. 64 All Humour had something of the Quibble. The very Language of the Court was Punning. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Pope Wks. IV. 156 The opposition of Immortalis and Mortalis, is a mere sound, or a mere quibble. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. xi. 100 Several questions, involving a quibble or play upon words. |
2. An equivocation, evasion of the point at issue; an argument depending on some likeness or difference between words or their meanings, or on some circumstance of no real importance.
| 1670 Moral State Eng. 23 An unnatural Antithesis, a forced quibble. 1675 Baxter Cath. Theol. i. iii. 41 To answer all these fallacies and quibbles, founded in some false supposition or ambiguous word. 1768 H. Walpole Hist. Doubts 100 note, Henry was so reduced to making out any title to the crown, that he catched even at a quibble. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiv. III. 471 To a plain understanding his objections seem to be mere quibbles. 1878 Lecky Eng. in 18th C. I. ii. 280 Those advocates of persecution, who would stoop to any quibble in their cause. |
| fig. 1796 M. Robinson Angelina II. 184 His features were all quibbles; for it was impossible to guess what they meant for two minutes together. |
b. The use of quibbles, quibbling.
| 1710 Palmer Proverbs 100 A liar is upon the reserve, and wou'd throw off the odium by quibble and equivocation. 1771 Junius Lett. lxi. 319 You attribute it to an honest zeal in behalf of innocence, oppressed by quibble and chicane. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as quibble-catching, quibble-loving adj., quibble-sanctioning adj., quibble-springe.
| 1678 Rymer Trag. last Age 4 Much less have I cast about for Jests, and gone a quibble-catching. 1802–12 Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) V. 234 A quibble-loving lawyer. 1829 ― Justice & Cod. Petit. 115 The quibble-sanctioning judge. 1830 Moriarty Husband Hunter III. 202 Law pun-traps and quibble-springes. |
▪ II. quibble, v.1
(ˈkwɪb(ə)l)
Also 7 quible.
[f. prec. n.]
† 1. intr. To pun, to play on words. Obs.
| a 1629 T. Goffe Careless Sheph. Præl. 129 His part has all the wit, For none speaks, carps and Quibbles besides him. 1670 Eachard Cont. Clergy 130 How the ministers themselves do jingle, quibble, and play the fools with their texts. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 61 ¶2 Nothing is more usual than to see a Hero weeping and quibbling for a dozen Lines together. 1751 Chesterfield Lett. (1792) III. 121 Were I inclined to quibble I would say [etc.; a pun on air]. |
2. intr. To argue in a purely verbal way; to evade the real point by a quibble.
| 1656 Cromwell Sp. 17 Sept. in Carlyle, Needlessly to mind things that are not essential; to be quibbling about words. 1839 James Louis XIV, II. 83 Mazarin proceeded to irritate De Retz..by quibbling upon the words of his bargain. 1854 tr. Lamartine's Celebr. Char. II. 26, I shall not quibble between the titles of King or Protector. 1864 Bowen Logic ix. 293 A satirical disputant quibbling about the meaning of words. |
b. To wriggle out of, to trifle or deal unfairly with, by quibbling. rare.
| 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 99/1 The simple warriors..who only learned..from white men how to break their faith, and quibble out of forms and bonds. 1859 G. Meredith R. Feverel xxxiv, Sensible that she had been quibbled with. |
3. trans. with advbs.: To cheat or bring out of, waste or explain away, by quibbling.
| 1713 Birch Guard. No. 36 ¶4 Who ever lost his estate in Westminster Hall, but complained that he was quibbled out of his right? 1768 Boyer Dict. Royal II. s.v., He endeavoured to quibble away, (to elude,) the sanctity of an oath. 1857 Toulmin Smith Parish 101 This Act has also, in many cases, been quibbled away. |
▪ III. ˈquibble, v.2 Obs. exc. dial.
[? Onomatopœic: cf. quiver.]
intr. To quiver; to shake.
| 1726 Bailey, Quibble, to move as the Guts do. 1886 Elworthy W. Som. Word-bk. s.v., I be afeard I've a catcht a chill, I do quibbly all over. |