cavillor

căvillor, ātus, 1, v. n. and a. [cavilla], to practise jeering or mocking; or ( act. ) to censure, criticise; to satirize in jest or earnest, to jest, etc. (syn.: jocari, ludere, illudere).

(α).

Absol.:

familiariter cum ipso etiam cavillor ac jocor,

Cic. Att. 2, 1, 5; cf. Liv. 39, 13, 3; 39, 42, 9; Suet. Tib. 8:

facetissime apud aliquem,

Gell. 5, 5, 1.—

(β).

With acc.:

togam ejus praetextam,

Cic. Q. Fr. 2, 10 (12), 2:

hanc artem ut tenuem ac jejunam,

Quint. 1, 4, 5:

verba patrum,

Tac. A. 1, 46:

tribunos plebis,

Liv. 2, 58, 9:

milites Romanos,

id. 5, 15, 4 et saep.—Hence, cavillatus in pass. sense, App. M. 9, p. 230.—

(γ).

With an objective clause:

in eo et etiam cavillatus est, aestate grave esse aureum amiculum, hieme frigidum,

Cic. N. D. 3, 34, 83. —

* II.

Meton., to reason captiously, to use sophisms, to quibble, Liv. 3, 20, 4; Plin. 11, 51, 112, § 267; 35, 10, 36, § 85.