From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Stickle \Stic"kle\, verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Stickled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Stickling}.] [Probably fr. OE. stightlen, sti?tlen, to dispose, arrange, govern, freq. of stihten, AS. stihtan: cf. G. stiften to found, to establish.]
1. To separate combatants by intervening. [Obs.]
When he [the angel] sees half of the Christians killed, and the rest in a fair way of being routed, he stickles betwixt the remainder of God's host and the race of fiends. --Dryden.
2. To contend, contest, or altercate, esp. in a pertinacious manner on insufficient grounds.
Fortune, as she 's wont, turned fickle, And for the foe began to stickle. --Hudibras.
While for paltry punk they roar and stickle. --Dryden.
The obstinacy with which he stickles for the wrong. --Hazlitt.
3. To play fast and loose; to pass from one side to the other; to trim.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Stickle \Stic"kle\, verb (used with an object)
1. To separate, as combatants; hence, to quiet, to appease, as disputants. [Obs.]
Which [question] violently they pursue, Nor stickled would they be. --Drayton.
2. To intervene in; to stop, or put an end to, by intervening; hence, to arbitrate. [Obs.]
They ran to him, and, pulling him back by force, stickled that unnatural fray. --Sir P. Sidney.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Stickle \Stic"kle\, noun [Cf. {stick}, verb (used with an object) & i.] A shallow rapid in a river; also, the current below a waterfall. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]
Patient anglers, standing all the day Near to some shallow stickle or deep bay. --W. Browne.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
verb
1: dispute or argue stubbornly (especially minor points)
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
71 Moby Thesaurus words for "stickle": abrupt, arduous, back down, balance, balk, blench, boggle, contend, contend for, debate, deliberate, demur, die hard, falter, fear, fight for, fight shy of, flinch, gag, hang back, hang off, have qualms, hem and haw, hesitate, hold off, hold out, hover, hum and haw, jib, kick, make bones about, not budge, object, pause, persevere, ponder, precipitate, precipitous, protest, pull back, quail, recoil, retreat, scruple, sheer, shilly-shally, shrink, shy, shy at, sideling, stall, stand out, stand pat, stick, stick at, stickle for, stipulate for, stop to consider, straddle the fence, strain, strain at, strive for, struggle for, stumble, take no denial, think twice about, vie for, waver, wince, withdraw, yield
Define.com is a registered nonprofit corporation dedicated solely to the global public interest and the advancement of humanity. It belongs to all of us who have a desire to promote electronic democracy, science, creativity, imagination, reason, critical thinking, peace, race and gender equality, civil rights, equal access to education, personal liberty, free speech, animal rights, compassionate and nonviolent parenting, social and economic justice, global monetary reform, Secular Humanism, cognitive liberty and a permanent cessation of The War on Drugs.
Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
0