pettinessn.

1581 R. Mulcaster Positions ii. 6 A petie companion, I confesse, but till some better do deale, why may not my petinesse fullwell take place?

1600 W. Shakespeare Henry V iii. vi. 128 Which to raunsome, His pettinesse would bow vnder.

1761 tr. C. Batteux Course Belles Lettres I. i. i. 201 Fable is strictly speaking the drama of children, and differs from other representations only in the pettiness and simplicity of its performers.

1845 R. Browning Bells & Pomegranates No. VII: Dramatic Romances & Lyrics (ad fin.) See their faces, listen to their prate, Partakers of their daily pettiness.

1905 Baroness Orczy Scarlet Pimpernel xxi. 206 Every breaker, as it rolls, seems to..speak to us of hopelessness and of the pettiness of all our joys.

1987 P. Angadi Highly Flavoured Ladies (1989) xxii. 253 She could not help feeling slightly nettled..and was annoyed at her own pettiness.

2001 Jrnl. Brit. Stud. 40 302 The pettiness of some of the bickering..and the underlying point of their disagreement are well illustrated.

1660 H. More Explan. Grand Myst. Godliness v. xv. 175 These pettinesses being below the Divine Majesty to catch at.

1872 W. Stubbs in Memoriale fratris Walteri de Coventria II. Pref. 15 A mean reproduction of all the vices and of the few pettinesses of his family.

1877 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 10) vii. 107 Life's pettinesses, futilities, trivial cares.

1913 Times 30 Jan. 7/5 They rebel against the innumerable pettinesses in which they are enmeshed.

2003 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 28 June 5 The narrative focus slides between the mental worlds of the various lead characters, effectively detailing their anxieties, pettinesses and pleasures.