quibbly

Adjective

quibbly (comparative more quibbly, superlative most quibbly)

1. Fussy; quibbling.
   • considering the docility of the high-bred Arab horse and intractableness of the quibly, roughly broken prairie or Pampas horse1859, John Solomon Rarey, The Art of Taming Horses, page 15
   • We give notice that thousands of our most complacently puttering, most quibbly and fuddly politicians are going to be taken out by the people, lifted up by the people, and dropped kindly but firmly over the edge of the world.1920, Gerald Stanley Lee, The Ghost in the White House, page xv
2. Involving quibbles.
   • Of course, the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General made a rather clever and—if he will excuse me for saying so—a rather quibbly defence.1887, Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, Thomas Curson Hansard, page 972
   • This reviewer’s doubts can be grouped under six heads, of which the econometric and the theoretical are the most quibbly.1974: Martin Bronfenbrenner, review of Japan’s Trade Liberalization in the 1960’s by Alfred K. Ho, in the Southern Economic Journal, vol. 40, no. 4, p. 683
3. Petty; trifling.
   • If it is true that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, it is equally true that the beginning of that road is usually paved with what are called quibbly incidents. The big ones come later when the direction is clear1990, Floyd W. Matson, Walking Alone and Marching Together, page 474