Prevaricate – to quibble; to shift or turn aside from or evade the truth; to equivocate or speak evasively
“[Da] opened the door of the Scriptorium. Instead of going in, he turned and looked up at me. I knew this look and waited for him to invoke Lily’s greater wisdom. She would know what to do, he would say, without offering his own encouragement or warning… But this time he did not prevaricate.”
Esme of her father, The Dictionary of Lost Words, pip Williams
I also defined Prevaricate here.
