Stic·kle v. i. [imp. & p. p. Stickled p. pr. & vb. n. Stickling.]
 1. 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.
 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.