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.