bicker vs spat

bicker

verb
  • To quarrel in a tiresome, insulting manner. 

  • To skirmish; to exchange blows; to fight. 

  • To brawl or move tremulously, quiver, shimmer (of a water stream, light, flame, etc.) 

  • To patter. 

noun
  • A skirmish; an encounter. 

  • The process by which selective eating clubs at Princeton University choose new members. 

  • A wrangle; also, a noise, as in angry contention. 

  • A wooden drinking-cup or other dish. 

spat

verb
  • To quarrel or argue briefly. 

  • To slap, as with the open hand; to clap together, as the hands. 

  • To spawn. Used of shellfish as above. 

  • To strike with a spattering sound. 

noun
  • A covering or decorative covering worn over a shoe. 

  • A brief argument, falling out, quarrel. 

  • A juvenile shellfish which has attached to a hard surface. 

  • A drag-reducing aerodynamic fairing covering the upper portions of the tyres of an aeroplane equipped with non-retractable landing gear. 

  • A piece of bodywork that covers the upper portions of the rear tyres of a car. 

  • An obsolete unit of distance in astronomy (symbol S), equal to one billion kilometres. 

  • A light blow with something flat. 

  • The spawn of shellfish, especially oysters and similar molluscs. 

How often have the words bicker and spat occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )