bicker

bick·er /ˈbɪkə $ -ər/ verb [intransitiveI]

ARGUEto argue, especially about something very unimportant 〔尤指为琐事〕争吵，发生口角

I wish you two would stop bickering.

我希望你们俩不要吵了。

bicker about/over

They kept bickering over who should answer the phone.

他们老是为应该谁去接电话的事争吵。

—bickering noun [uncountableU]

Examples from the Corpus

bicker• Whenever we go shopping together we always start bickering.• Another nine were voted out over Democratic objections and with partisan bickering.• But Davidson thinks the message from voters last fall indicates that lawmakers should act, not bicker.• Since she got here, everyone's been bickering.• What Grimma was thinking was: they're not bickering.• As they began bickering about how to interpret his behavior.• The Democrats, now smugly confident, may start to bicker among themselves.• Nor did divisions and bickering between Protestants lend prestige to their faith.• The mayor and the town council spent most of Thursday bickering over how to balance next year's budget.

bicker about/over• She was tired of the endless bickering over food.• Name and address supplied Isn't all the bickering over fuel tax missing the point?• As they began bickering about how to interpret his behavior.• However, no one had pushed him and there was no point in bickering over trifles.• Scientists and administrators bickered over whether this should be a continuing program in ocean-bottom drilling or a one-shot drive to the mantle.• The self of a thermostat system has endless internal bickering about whether to turn the furnace up or down.• Whenever the phone rings - about once every ten minutes - they bicker over who must answer it.• The kids were bickering about who would sleep in the top bunk.• There was still bickering about winners and losers.

Origin bicker

(1200-1300) Middle Dutch bicken “to attack”

bick·er verb

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus