squabble
English edit
Etymology edit
1600s, probably of North Germanic origin and ultimately imitative.[1]
Related to Swedish dialectal skvabbel (“a dispute, quarrel, gossip”), Norwegian dialectal skvabba (“to prattle”), German dialectal schwabbeln (“to babble, prattle”), Swedish dialectal skvappa (“to chide, scold”, literally “make a splash”).
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈskwɒbl/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈskwɑːbl/
Audio (GA) (file) - Rhymes: -ɒbəl
Noun edit
squabble (plural squabbles)
- A minor fight or argument.
- The children got into a squabble about who should ride in the front of the car.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
minor fight or argument
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Verb edit
squabble (third-person singular simple present squabbles, present participle squabbling, simple past and past participle squabbled)
- (intransitive) To participate in a minor fight or argument; to quarrel.
- The brothers were always squabbling with each other.
- 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick: Or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after Truth, […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Clark and Richard Hett, […], Emanuel Matthews, […], and Richard Ford, […], published 1726, →OCLC:
- The sense of these propositions is very plain and easy, though logicians might perhaps squabble a whole day whether they should rank them under negative or affirmative.
- (transitive, printing) To disarrange, so that the letters or lines stand awry and require readjustment.
- to squabble type
Synonyms edit
- See also Thesaurus:squabble
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
participate in a minor fight or argument
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References edit
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.