Stickle — Defs

01 v. i. To separate combatants by intervening.

imp. & p. p. Stickled; p. pr. & vb. n. Stickling

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.

02 v. t. To separate, as combatants; hence, to quiet, to appease, as disputants.

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.

03 n. A shallow rapid in a river; also, the current below a waterfall.

1.
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.