batrachomyomachy
English
Etymology
From Batrachomyomachia (Ancient Greek βάτραχος, frog, μῦς, mouse, and μάχη, battle), a comic epic parodying the Iliad in which a diving frog accidentally drowns a mouse riding on his back, prompting a war between the species.
Noun
batrachomyomachy (plural batrachomyomachies)
- A petty quarrel.
- 1917, “Nature's Police Force”, in The Living Age, volume 294, Boston: The Living Age Company, page 698:
- Among mammals, stoats and weasels have been mentioned as likely allies, in this batrachomyomachy where the frogs are men, but the alliance, certainly in the case of stoats, would prove dangerous.
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Related terms
- batrachomyomachian
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for batrachomyomachy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)