Hypertext Webster Gateway: "stickle"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Stickle \Stic"kle\, n. [Cf. {stick}, v. 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.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

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.]

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 Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Stickle \Stic"kle\, v. 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.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

stickle
v : dispute or argue stubbornly, esp. minor points

Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup

dict.stokkie.net

Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents; see the Webster Gateway FAQ, and also the Back-end/database links and credits.