petty

Etymology

The adjective is derived from Middle English peti, pety (“little, small; minor”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman petit, Middle French petit, and Old French peti, petit, pitet (“young; little, small; inferior; insignificant”) (modern French petit), ultimately of imitative origin. It is no longer thought that the word is derived from Celtic. Doublet of petit and petite. The noun is derived from the adjective.

adj

1. (often derogatory)
   1. Having little or no importance.
      a petty fault    petty squabbles
      [H]is VVords vvere ranged vvith more care and leſs confidence than before, and in all his Actions he eſſay'd to beſpeak me an opinion, that the VVorld could not offer him an employment vvhich vvas not leſs important and conſiderable in his thoughts, than the pettieſt occaſion to ſerve and pleaſe me. 1736, [Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède], “Part III. Book III.”, in Robert Loveday, transl., Hymen’s Præludia: Or, Love’s Master-piece: Being that So-much-admir’d Romance, Intitled, Cleopatra.[…], volume II, London: […] J. Watson,[…], →OCLC, page 282
      The pettiest creature in Heaven will be the most noble of Earth, and the most noble of Earth the pettiest in Heaven. 1996, Jonathan Herman, “The Text Translation: ‘Talks and Parables of Chuang Tzu’. [XVIII. The Death Song.]”, in I and Tao: Martin Buber’s Encounter with Chuang Tzu, Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, page 36
      Later today in Finsbury Park, the cameras would spend hours panning across 35,000 festivalgoers in search of pickpockets, drunken brawlers, and other assorted agents of petty mischief. 2018 February, Robert Draper, “They are Watching You—and Everything Else on the Planet: Technology and Our Increasing Demand for Security have Put Us All under Surveillance. Is Privacy Becoming just a Memory?”, in National Geographic, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-06-14
   2. Of persons or their behaviour: marked by or reflective of undesirably limited interests, sympathies, or views; begrudging, selfish, small-minded; also, preoccupied with subjects having little or no importance and not mindful of broader concerns.
      Such literature may well be anathema to those who are too docile and petty for their own good.
      That corporation is only slightly pettier than they are greedy, and they are overdue to reap the consequences.
      I will give you the slightest, pettiest instance of the hindrance which the pettiest official can make out here, if so minded. […] [T]he Senior Purveyor at Balaclava refuses to cash my Cheques, for no other reason discoverable than the love of petty annoyance & the hope of injuring my credit, in the minds of ignorant servants. 6 March 1856, Florence Nightingale, “The ‘Confidential Report’ [Letter to Uncle Sam Smith]”, in Sue M. Goldie, editor, Florence Nightingale: Letters from the Crimea 1854–1856, Manchester, New York, N.Y.: Mandolin, Manchester University Press, published 1997, page 225
      But while in the beginning those political criteria [in Italian railway construction] were grandiose and national, just and even necessary, later they were to become pettier and pettier, to the point that they were almost always more regional than rational. 2013, Tim Parks, “Verona–Milano”, in Italian Ways: On and Off the Rails from Milan to Palermo, London: Harvill Secker, page 87
   3. (informal) Inclined to cause frustration or annoyance to others out of spite over minor grievances; extremely vindictive.
      My cousin is so petty—I forgot his birthday and he's been making snarky comments all week.
2. (historical) Of or relating to the lowest grade or level of school; junior, primary.
   Friends are separated for long portions of time even while they live; at last they take their leave for ever: although, I remember, when you left me in the petty form at Westminster, I soon afterwards found you in a higher remove: and this world is only the petty form of the universe; so I not only expect to pass a social hour with you here, but am in hopes of a merry meeting in a better place; […] 13 June 1756, J[ames] M[urphy] French, “[Letters, Correspondence, and Poetry, of James Murphy French.] To Henry Duncombe, Esq.”, in Jesse Foot, The Life of Arthur Murphy, Esq., London: […] [F]or J. Faulder,[…]; by John Nichols and Son,[…], published 1811, →OCLC, page 123
   This finishes their education in the under school, in which they have now been three years and a half, and they are next moved into the upper, and probably at the age of ten or eleven; six or seven being the age at which boys are generally sent into the petty form. 1813, M[ichael] Russel, “[Appendix.] No. II. On Westminster School.”, in View of the System of Education at Present Pursued in the Schools and Universities of Scotland.[…], Edinburgh: […] John Moir,[…], sold by Bell & Bradfute,[…], →OCLC, page xx
   [T]he feoffees should cause the boys to be put to some petty school to learn to read English till they attain 13, and to instruct them in some part of God's true religion. 5 July 1819, “Fulham. [The Latymer, or Boys Charity School, at Hammersmith.]”, in Second Report of the Commissioners Appointed in Pursuance of an Act of the 58th Year of His Present Majesty, Cap. 91. Intituled An Act for Appointing Commissioners to Enquire Concerning Charities in England, for the Education of the Poor (House of Lords, the Sessional Papers 1801–1833; 100, part II), [London: House of Commons of the United Kingdom], →OCLC, page 86
   [B]y the assistance of that truly Christian gentlewoman, the Lady Elizabeth Hastings, he increased the number of petty schools throughout the island. 1846, William Henry Teale, “The Life of Thomas Wilson, D.D., Bishop of Sodor and Man”, in Lives of English Divines;[…], London: James Burns,[…], →OCLC, pages 305–306
   [O]riginally there were six forms in the school; of these the highest was called the Sixth. Afterwards, the number of forms was increased to eight; the highest was still called the Sixth, but the Fourth form was divided into two, the Fourth and the Fourth Division, and the First into two also, the First and the Petty or Anonymous form. […] Some alterations were made, then or soon after, lower down in the school. The Fifth form was subdivided into the upper and lower Fifth; the Division into the upper and lower Division; and the Petty form was abolished. 28 June 1862, James Augustus Hessey (witness), “Minutes of Evidence. Merchant Taylors’.”, in Report of Her Majesty’s Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into the Revenues and Management of Certain Colleges and Schools, and the Studies Pursued and Instruction Given therein;[…], volume VI (Evidence, Part 2), London: […] George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode,[…] [f]or Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, published 1864, →OCLC, paragraph 346, page 126, column 1
3. (obsolete except in set phrases)
   1. Little or small in size.
   2. Secondary in importance or rank; minor, subordinate.
      petty cash    petty officer

noun

1. (dialectal, euphemistic, informal) An outbuilding used as a lavatory; an outhouse, a privy.
   If these houses had been built by his Lordship every one would have had his petty, at all events dividing the odour & also having a chance that some of the occupiers would clean out—but a common occupation is nobody's business, unless the owner of all the buildings takes it in hand. 27 September 1848, Maria Josepha Stanley, Baroness Stanley of Alderley, “[Letter 245]”, in Nancy Mitford, editor, The Ladies of Alderley: Being the Letters between Maria Josepha, Lady Stanley of Alderley, and Her Daughter-in-law Henrietta Maria Stanley during the Years 1841–1850, London: Hamish Hamilton, published 1967, →OCLC, page 172
   Cottages occupied by Betty Hines and others; petty in a very filthy state, wants walling. Two petties belonging to Mr. James Parr to be walled, and one next Thomas Wilkinson's to be removed further off. 1852, Robert Rawlinson, “Appendix”, in Report to the General Board of Health on a Preliminary Inquiry into the Sewerage, Drainage, and Supply of Water, and the Sanitary Condition of the Inhabitants of the Township of Barton-upon-Irwell, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, London: […] George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode,[…] for Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, →OCLC, page 47
   We have an evil in the excretal deposits, and in the ashes an antidote; but instead of applying the antidote, we keep the evil to itself, and suffer it to exercise its unmitigated power over the health of the household. […] Now the simple remedy for this would be, to construct the petties with several steps upward and backward, so as to be more over the centre of the ash-pit. […] Such an arrangement would ensure the mingling of the ashes with the excreta, by which the latter would be deodorised, and the evil suppressed. 1 January 1868, “The Sanitary Condition of Manchester”, in The Manchester Monthly Record and Advertiser, Manchester: Abel Heywood and Son,[…]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.; and Heywood and Co.,[…], →OCLC, page 32
2. (historical) A class or school for young schoolboys.
   (class):
   (school):
   […] I took my seat in what was denominated, "The Idle Class", that is, at the very bottom of the school, where all those who have not received some previous instruction in Latin are placed. I however soon got out of that disgraceful and ignorant form, passed with rapidity and eclat the under and upper petty, and entered into the upper first, […] 1808–1810 (date written), William Hickey, “Early School Days”, in Alfred Spencer, editor, Memoirs of William Hickey, 7th edition, volumes I (1749–1775), London: Hurst & Blackett,[…], published [1913?], →OCLC, page 13
3. (obsolete, chiefly in the plural, also figurative) A little schoolboy, either in grade or size.
   [S]ome of them, which were the Petties and Punies of that ſchoole, whereof old Martin [Marprelate] was the maſter; though then he was but as ſome blinde and obſcure pariſh Clarke that taught in the Belfrie, not preſuming, as hee doth nowe, to preſſe into the Church, (that place in reſpect of the appurtenances being fitter for him) began but rawly with their little a, b, c. 1589, attributed to Thomas Nashe, “To the Discreet and Indifferent Reader”, in Martins Months Minde, that is, A Certaine Report, and True Description of the Death, and Funerals, of Olde Martin Marre-prelate, the Great Makebate of England, and Father of the Factions.[…]; republished in Alexander B[alloch] Grosart, editor, The Complete Works of Thomas Nashe.[…] (The Huth Library), volume I, [London; Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire: […] Hazell, Watson, and Viney] for private circulation only, 1883–1884, →OCLC, page 150
   The Free Grammar School, at Cartmel, was originally only a parochial seminary, under the superintendence of the churchwardens and sidesmen of the parish, who, for a series of years, hired a master to whom they paid the interest of a few small bequests, the remainder of his salary being made up by quarterage from the scholars, except the children of poor parents, who were taught free. In 1635, the quarterage from grammarians was sixpence, and for petties, little ones, fourpence. […] In 1674, the quarterage for grammarians was raised to 8d., but no alteration was made for the petties. 1849, P. J. Mannex, “History, Topography, and Directory, of Furness and Cartmel, in Lancashire”, in History, Topography, and Directory, of Westmorland; and Lonsdale North of the Sands, in Lancashire;[…], London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co.,[…]; Beverley, Yorkshire: […] W. B. Johnson,[…], →OCLC, page 377