The Collaborative International Dictionary
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.]
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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. -
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. To play fast and loose; to pass from one side to the other; to trim.
Wiktionary
vb. (present participle of stickle English)
Usage examples of "stickling".
If we began stickling for proof in this way, our opponents would not be long in letting us know that absolute proof is unattainable on any subject, that reasonable presumption is our highest certainty, and that crying out for too much evidence is as bad as accepting too little.
And then, full of yourself, not thinking of Elizabeth, but to withdraw in the chivalrous attitude of the man true to his word to the old woman, only stickling to bring a certain independence to the common stock, because-- I quote you!
It was certainly ridiculous for man who had once so selfishly consulted his own interests to be stickling now about the rights of others.
They caught the dragon full on in the back, stickling shoulders and neck.