Definition: verb to raise trivial and frivolous objection

Etymology: Latin cavillari to jest, cavil, from cavilla raillery; akin to Latin calvi to deceive
Date: 1542

Quotation: “A piquant development which I have noticed in recent years is that American visitors to Paris have acquired an admirable mastery of that useful and difficult art known as bargaining. They may not cavil over the ninth part of a hair, but they do cavil — and successfully — over the ninth part of a dollar, to the advantage of their pocketbooks.”
- from an Article Preview in the New York Times

I saw this little gem in a crossword puzzle a week or so ago and it really threw me for a loop. The word “sounds right”, if that’s possible. Maybe it’s just that it reminds me of “haggle”.