Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
verb (used without object)
- to engage in petulant or peevish argument; wrangle: The two were always bickering.
- to run rapidly; move quickly; rush; hurry: a stream bickering down the valley.
- to flicker; glitter: The sun bickered through the trees.
noun
- an angry, petty dispute or quarrel; contention.
verb (intr)
- to argue over petty matters; squabble
- poetic
- (esp of a stream) to run quickly
- to flicker; glitter
noun
- a petty squabble
c.1300, “a skirmish,” from bicker (v.). Meaning “a verbal wrangle” is from 1570s.
1808 in the sense of “contentious,” present participle adjective from bicker (v.). Earlier it was used to mean “flashing, quivering” (1660s).
early 14c., bikere, “to skirmish, fight,” perhaps from Middle Dutch bicken “to slash, stab, attack,” + -er, Middle English frequentative suffix. Meaning “to quarrel” is from mid-15c. Related: Bickered; bickering.
c.1300, skirmish, battle; from the same source as bicker (v.). In modern use, often to describe the sound of a flight of an arrow or other repeated, loud, rapid sounds, in which sense it is perhaps at least partly echoic.