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Webster 1913 Edition

Stickle

Stic′kle

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Stickled
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Stickling
.]
[Probably fr. OE.
stightlen
,
sti[GREEK]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.

Stic′kle

,
Verb.
T.
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.

Stic′kle

,
Noun.
[Cf.
stick
,
Verb.
T.
&
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.

Webster 1828 Edition

Stickle

STICKLE

,
Verb.
I.
[from the practice of prize-fighters, who placed seconds with staves or sticks to interpose occasionally.]
1.
To take part with one side or other.
Fortune, as she wont, turnd fickle, and for the foe began to stickle.
2.
To contend; to contest; to altercate. Let the parties stickle each for his favority doctrine.
3.
To trim; to play fast and loose; to pass from one side to the other.

STICKLE

,
Verb.
T.
To arbitrate. [Not in use.]

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