pedant

noun

1. A person who makes an excessive or tedious show of their knowledge, especially regarding rules of vocabulary and grammar.
2. A person who is overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning.
3. (archaic)A teacher or schoolmaster.

   “I have in my youth oftentimes beene vexed to see a Pedant [tr. pedante] brought in, in most of Italian comedies, for a vice or sport-maker, and the nicke-name of Magister to be of no better signification amongst us.”

adj

1. (not-comparable)Pedantic.

verb

1. (humorous, rare)To be or act as a pedant.

   “[…] as any occasion of going behond^([sic – meaning beyond]) the sea with sombody, or pedanting in some Gentlemans house, &c., for clergy-employment I will accept of none.”

   “Tediously he pedanted, hedging around concerning the Perfect State, eventually coming out into the open with his own private Perfect State plan.”

   “‘Most people in this country aren’t Christian, the standard package should not be Christian,’ Gerrard pedanted.”

   “Jim’s mother pestered him daily for a month to come home for a talk. At first he rejected the offer, knowing what to expect, dear old dad would dance around the room pedanting about some shit that didn’t make sense anyway.”