The word for today is…
skirmish (noun, verb):
noun
1 : a minor fight in war usually incidental to larger movements
2a : a brisk preliminary verbal conflict
b : a minor dispute or contest between opposing parties
verb
1 : to engage in a skirmish
2 : to search about (as for supplies
Source : Online Etymology Dictionary
Etymology : late 14c., from Old French escarmouche “skirmish,” from Italian scaramuccia, earlier schermugio, probably from a Germanic source (compare Old High German skirmen “to protect, defend”), with a diminutive or depreciatory suffix, from Proto-Germanic skerm – to cut. Influenced in Middle English by a separate verb skirmysshen “to brandish a weapon,” from Old French eskirmiss-, stem of eskirmir “to fence,” from Frankish skirmjan, from the same Germanic source. First known use was in the 14th century
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