parrying

Parry \Par"ry\ (p[a^]r"r[y^]), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Parried}
   (p[a^]r"r[e^]d); p. pr. & vb. n. {Parrying}.] [F. par['e], p.
   p. of parer. See {Pare}, v. t.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. To ward off; to stop, or to turn aside; as, to parry a
      thrust, a blow, or anything that means or threatens harm.
      --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

            Vice parries wide
            The undreaded volley with a sword of straw.
                                                  --Cowper.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To avoid; to shift or put off; to evade.
      [1913 Webster]

            The French government has parried the payment of our
            claims.                               --E. Everett.
      [1913 Webster]
    

28 Moby Thesaurus words for "parrying":
      bickering, boggling, captiousness, caviling, chicane, chicanery,
      dodging, equivocation, evasion, fencing, hairsplitting, hedging,
      logic-chopping, nit-picking, paltering, pettifoggery,
      prevarication, pussyfooting, quibbling, shifting, shuffle,
      shuffling, sidestepping, subterfuge, suppressio veri,
      tergiversation, trichoschistism, weasel words