Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BICK'ER, v.i. [W. bicra, to fight, to bicker; Scot. bicker, to fight by throning stones, to move quickly, to skirmish; allied perhaps to It. picchiare, to beat; picchiarsi, to fight; picchiere, a soldier armed with a pike; picchio, a blow or stroke, a woodpecker; beccare, to peck. This verb is from the root of beak, peck, pike, and primarily signifies to beat, to strike, to thrust at, or to make at by repeated thrusts or blows.]

1. To skirmish; to fight off and on; that is, to make repeated attacks. [But in this sense I believe rarely used.]
2. To quarrel; to contend in words; to scold; to contend in petulant altercation. [This is the usual signification.]
3. To move quickly; to quiver; to be tremulous, like flame or water; as, the bickering flame; the bickering stream. – Milton. Thomson.