(verb) : căvillor, ātus, 1, 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).
* 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.
* Meton., to reason captiously, to use sophisms, to quibble, Liv. 3, 20, 4; Plin. 11, 51, 112, § 267; 35, 10, 36, § 85.
* With an objective clause: in eo et etiam cavillatus est, aestate grave esse aureum amiculum, hieme frigidum,Cic. N. D. 3, 34, 83. —*

s. TLL