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.