Definition of "pettifogging"

[…] lost in such a jungle of intrigues, pettifoggings, treacheries, diplomacies domestic and foreign […]

1858–1865, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: Chapman and Hall, […]

It's lots of other pettifogging, degrading things. Things you have to endure, things you never have to think about until they happen to you.

1967, Agatha Christie, Endless Night