pettifogging

1570s as a verbal noun, "the practice of pettifoggery;" c. 1600 as a present-participle adjective, "petty, mean, paltry, characteristic of a pettifogger;" see pettifogger. A verb pettifog is rare and attested only from 1610s; De Quincey has pettifogulize "to use petty and contemptible means."