bicker

¹

[bik-er]

noun

Scot.

1. any wooden dish or bowl, especially a wooden porridge bowl.

2. Obsolete.,  a wooden drinking cup.

bicker

²

[bik-er]

verb (used without object)

1. to engage in petulant or peevish argument; wrangle.

   The two were always bickering.

   Synonyms: spat, disagreement, argument, spat, spar, dispute, haggle, quarrel, argue, squabble, disagree

2. Literary.,  to rush or make a rushing sound, as water.

   We first heard and then saw the stream bickering down the valley.

3. to flicker; glitter.

   The sun bickered through the trees.

noun

1. an angry, petty dispute or quarrel; altercation.

bicker

/ ˈbɪkə /

verb

1. to argue over petty matters; squabble

2. poetic

   1. (esp of a stream) to run quickly

   2. to flicker; glitter

noun

1. a petty squabble

Other Word Forms

• bickerer noun
• bickering noun
• unbickered adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bicker¹

1300–50; Middle English biker beaker

Origin of bicker²

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English bikeren; origin unknown

Word History and Origins

Origin of bicker¹

C13: of unknown origin

Example Sentences

It will also hope that it can put behind it months of public bickering and prove to the electorate it is a serious political force worth voting for.

Read more on BBC

Levin objected, and their tiff is growing increasingly heated as they bicker online.

Read more on Salon

My grandmother and her sister bickered over everything their whole lives, so I think their mother knew better than to leave it to them to decide things.

Read more on MarketWatch

YouTube and Disney spent weeks bickering over distribution fees.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“Yellowstone” debuted in 2018, smack in the middle of a presidential administration that forced us to question and bicker over the meaning of American identity.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• disagree 
• quarrel 
• quibble 
• spar 
• squabble 
• wrangle