Will the caviller prove that the sun and moon would be greater blessings if their light wore more intense, or more abundant?
Surely none but a caviller will find any want of harmony between these different modes of expression.
The injunction is multiplied on us, as it were, to silence the sophistry of the caviller, and to fix the most inconsiderate mind.
I have proof enough to carry conviction to any honest breast—to satisfy any caviller—except a court of justice.
"What objection could a caviller find with my epigram," said Mathilde to herself.
I neither fear the critic or the caviller upon the ground-work of my address.
So caviller like I submitted to pow'r, And was coddled in troth for the third of an hour.
1540s, from Middle French caviller "to mock, jest," from Latin cavillari "to jeer, mock; satirize, argue scoffingly" (also source of Italian cavillare, Spanish cavilar), from cavilla "jest, jeering," related to calumnia (see calumny).
