- cavil
- \ \ see CHALLENGE
Word origins - 2ed. J. Ayto. 2005.
cavil
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Cavil — may refer to:* Brother Cavil, a fictional character from the re imagined Battlestar Galactica television series * Kwame Cavil (born 1979), Canadian Football League wide receiver … Wikipedia
Cavil — Cav il (k[a^]v [i^]l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Caviled} or {Cavilled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Caviling} or {Cavilling}.] [L. cavillari to practice jesting, to censure, fr. cavilla bantering jests, sophistry: cf. OF. caviller.] To raise captious and… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Cavil — Cav il, v. t. To cavil at. [Obs.] Milton. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Cavil — Cav il, n. A captious or frivolous objection. [1913 Webster] All the cavils of prejudice and unbelief. Shak. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
cavil — I verb attack, belittle, calumniari, carp, carpere, censure frivolously, complain frivolously, condemn, criticize frivolously, decry, denigrate, denounce, deprecate, deride, disapprove, discredit, disparage frivolously, faultfind, find fault with … Law dictionary
cavil — 1540s, from M.Fr. caviller to mock, jest, from L. cavillari to satirize, argue scoffingly, from cavilla jest, jeering, related to calumnia (see CALUMNY (Cf. calumny)) … Etymology dictionary
cavil — ► VERB (cavilled, cavilling; US caviled, caviling) ▪ make petty objections. ► NOUN ▪ a petty objection. ORIGIN Latin cavillari, from cavilla mockery … English terms dictionary
cavil — [kav′əl] vi. caviled or cavilled, caviling or cavilling [OFr caviller < L cavillari < cavilla, jeering < * calvilla < calvari, to deceive; akin to calumnia, CALUMNY] to object when there is little reason to do so; resort to trivial… … English World dictionary
Cavil — Numéro Un Numéro Un Personnage de Battlestar Galactica Alias Frère Cavil Origine monde cylon … Wikipédia en Français
cavil — cav|il [ˈkævəl] v past tense and past participle cavilled present participle cavilling BrE past tense and past participle caviled present participle caviling AmE [i]formal [Date: 1500 1600; : Latin; Origin: cavillari to … Dictionary of contemporary English
cavil — [[t]kæ̱v(ə)l[/t]] cavils, cavilling, cavilled VERB: no passive (disapproval) If you say that someone cavils at something, you mean that they make criticisms of it that you think are unimportant or unnecessary. [FORMAL] Since the government has… … English dictionary
