hairsplit

From hair +‎ split; see split hairs.

hairsplit (third-person singular simple present hairsplits, present participle hairsplitting, simple past and past participle hairsplit)

1. (transitive) To make fine distinctions concerning.
   • 1922, Sons of the Revolution in State of Virginia Quarterly Magazine, page 28:

     The real criticism of your article is not only your attitude of mind as expressed therein, but also in dealing with details and inclination to hairsplit minor matters

   • 1981, M. P. Agrawal, Taxation of Charity‎, page 87:

     This would lend support to the view that it would be unrealistic to hairsplit various activities of an educational institution to ferret out if any one of them, by itself, involves profit-making.

2. (intransitive) To split hairs.
   • 1884, Clarence Deming, By-ways of Nature and Life‎, page 225:

     How vividly with the recital of these old customs memory reverts to the other quaint and fantastic forms New England piety took on — to the pastor who could hairsplit by the hour 'twixt Free Will and Election

   • 1915, South Carolina. Supreme Court, J. S. G. Richardson, Robert Wallace Shand, Cyprian Melanchthon Efird, William Hay Townsend, Duncan C. Ray, William Munro Shand, Reports of Cases Heard and Determined by the Supreme Court of South Carolina:

     We are not disposed to refine and hairsplit so as to nullify these wise provisions of the statute

• hairsplitter

hairsplit (plural hairsplits)

1. A fine distinction.

   It's an arguable distinction, but I think it's a hairsplit.

   • 1970, Canada. Parliament. Special Joint Committee of the Senate and of the House of Commons on the Constitution of Canada, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence: Procès-verbaux Et Témoignages‎:

     I do not think the Constitution should go into working détails or hairsplits that may be necessary when some of the various rights which it defines are rationalized out to their ultimate extrêmes.