argy-bargy

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Scots, variant of argle-bargle, documented since 1822, presumably due to replacement of +‎ -le (frequentative) with +‎ -y (diminutive), documented since 1857, but without effect on the meaning.[1][2]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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argy-bargy (countable and uncountable, plural argy-bargies)

  1. (chiefly UK) A noisy disagreement, often with some fighting
    There was a wee bit of an argy-bargy over the dodgy matter.

Translations

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Verb

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argy-bargy (third-person singular simple present argy-bargies, present participle argy-bargying, simple past and past participle argy-bargied)

  1. (chiefly UK) To argue.
    • 1897, J. M. Barrie, chapter 6, in Margaret Ogilvy:
      Ten minutes at the least did she stand at the door argy-bargying with that man.

Synonyms

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References

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  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “argle”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. ^ Word Detective 010506