- Stickling
- Stickle Stic"kle, v. i. [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.]
[1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
2. To contend, contest, or altercate, esp. in a pertinacious manner on insufficient grounds. [1913 Webster]
Fortune, as she 's wont, turned fickle, And for the foe began to stickle. --Hudibras. [1913 Webster]
While for paltry punk they roar and stickle. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
The obstinacy with which he stickles for the wrong. --Hazlitt. [1913 Webster]
3. To play fast and loose; to pass from one side to the other; to trim. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.