Stickled

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [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.]
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              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.
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     2. To contend, contest, or altercate, esp. in a pertinacious
        manner on insufficient grounds.
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              Fortune, as she 's wont, turned fickle,
              And for the foe began to stickle.     --Hudibras.
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              While for paltry punk they roar and stickle.
                                                    --Dryden.
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              The obstinacy with which he stickles for the wrong.
                                                    --Hazlitt.
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     3. To play fast and loose; to pass from one side to the
        other; to trim.
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