Definition of "stickle"

stickle¹

/ˈstɪk(ə)l/

noun
plural stickles
1. A sharp point; prickle; a spine

stickle²

/ˈstɪk(ə)l/

adjective
comparative more stickle, superlative most stickle
1. steep; high; inaccessible
2. (UK, dialect) high, as the water of a river; swollen; sweeping; rapid
noun
plural stickles
1. A shallow rapid in a river.
2. The current below a waterfall.
  Quotations
  [P]atient Anglers ſtanding all the day / Neere to ſome ſhallovv ſtickle or deepe bay.
  1616, William Browne, “The Fourth Song”, in Britannia’s Pastorals. The Second Booke, London: […] Iohn Haviland, published 1625, page 143

stickle³

/ˈstɪk(ə)l/

verb
third-person singular simple present stickles, present participle stickling, simple past and past participle stickled
1. (obsolete) To act as referee or arbiter; to mediate.
2. (now rare) To argue or struggle for.
  Quotations
  ‘She has other people than poor little you to think about, and has gone abroad with them; so you needn’t be in the least afraid she’ll stickle this time for her rights.’
  1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew
3. To raise objections; to argue stubbornly, especially over minor or trivial matters.
  Quotations
  Miserable new Berline! Why could not Royalty go in some old Berline similar to that of other men? Flying for life, one does not stickle about his vehicle.
  1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, (please specify the book or page number)
4. (transitive, obsolete) To separate, as combatants; hence, to quiet, to appease, as disputants.
  Quotations
  Which [question] violently they pursue, / Nor stickled would they be.
  1630, Michael Drayton, The Muses' Elizium
5. (transitive, obsolete) To intervene in; to stop, or put an end to, by intervening.
  Quotations
  They ran to him, and, pulling him back by force, stickled that unnatural fray.
  c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “[The First Booke] Chapter 1”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, page 9
6. (intransitive, obsolete) To separate combatants by intervening.
  Quotations
  When he [the angel] sees half of the Christians are already killed, and all the rest in a fair way to be routed, [he]stickles betwixt the remainders of God’s host, and the race of fiends.
  1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […]
7. (intransitive, obsolete) To contend, contest, or altercate, especially in a pertinacious manner on insufficient grounds.
  Quotations
  Fortune, as she’s wont, turned fickle, / And for the foe began to stickle.
  1662, [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge: University Press, 1905
  for paltry punk they roar and stickle
  1684, John Dryden, To The Disappointment
  the obstinacy with which he stickles for the wrong
  c. 1817, William Hazlitt, Character of John Bull

Definition of "stickle"

stickle1

noun

stickle2

adjective

noun

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stickle3

verb

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stickle¹

stickle²

stickle³