ZebraWords.com - The Definition of 'Stickle', Synonyms of 'Stickle' & More on 'Stickle'

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

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

Dictionary Results for stickle:

1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)

stickle
    v 1: dispute or argue stubbornly (especially minor points)

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

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]

3. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

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]

4. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

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]

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