Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Quibble

Quibble , noun

[Probably from quib, quip, but influenced by quillet, or quiddity.]

1.
A shift or turn from the point in question; a trifling or evasive distinction; an evasion; a cavil.
Quibbles have no place in the search after truth. — I. Watts
2.
A pun; a low conceit.

Quibble , intransitive verb

1.
To evade the point in question by artifice, play upon words, caviling, or by raising any insignificant or impertinent question or point; to trifle in argument or discourse; to equivocate.
2.
To pun; to practice punning. — Cudworth