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.