bone to pick

bone to pick (plural bones to pick)

1. (usually with with) A disagreeable matter to settle with somebody.

   Synonyms: crow to pick, crow to pluck, crow to pull

   • 1903, Joseph A. Altsheler, chapter 1, in Before the Dawn:

     "I say, Winthrop," he cried, "I've got a bone to pick with you. You've been hitting me pretty hard in that rag of yours. Do you know what a public man down in the Gulf States does with an editor who attacks him?"

   • 2006 October, Terry Carter, “Tort Reform Texas Style”, in ABA Journal, volume 92, number 10, pages 30–36:

     There are a few plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions in lesser populated areas, but big-city courts had few suits that did not involve medical error and "a legitimate bone to pick."

• have a bone to pick