'Stickle' definitions:
Definition of 'stickle'
(from WordNet)
verb
Dispute or argue stubbornly (especially minor points)
Definition of 'Stickle'
From: GCIDE
- 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]
Definition of 'Stickle'
From: GCIDE
- Stickle \Stic"kle\, v. t.
- 1. To separate, as combatants; hence, to quiet, to appease, as disputants. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- Which [question] violently they pursue, Nor stickled would they be. --Drayton. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To intervene in; to stop, or put an end to, by intervening; hence, to arbitrate. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- They ran to him, and, pulling him back by force, stickled that unnatural fray. --Sir P. Sidney. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Stickle'
From: GCIDE
- 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.] [1913 Webster]
- Patient anglers, standing all the day Near to some shallow stickle or deep bay. --W. Browne. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'stickle'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abrupt,
- arduous,
- back down,
- balance,
- balk,
- blench,
- boggle,
- contend,
- contend for,
- debate,
- deliberate,
- demur,
- die hard,
- falter,
- fear,
- fight for,
- fight shy of,
- flinch,
- gag,
- hang back,
- hang off,
- have qualms,
- hem and haw,
- hesitate,
- hold off,
- hold out,
- hover,
- hum and haw,
- jib,
- kick,
- make bones about,
- not budge,
- object,
- pause,
- persevere,
- ponder,
- precipitate,
- precipitous,
- protest,
- pull back,
- quail,
- recoil,
- retreat,
- scruple,
- sheer,
- shilly-shally,
- shrink,
- shy,
- shy at,
- sideling,
- stall,
- stand out,
- stand pat,
- stick,
- stick at,
- stickle for,
- stipulate for,
- stop to consider,
- straddle the fence,
- strain,
- strain at,
- strive for,
- struggle for,
- stumble,
- take no denial,
- think twice about,
- vie for,
- waver,
- wince,
- withdraw,
- yield