Found 2 items, similar to stickling.
English → English (WordNet)
Definition: stickle
stickle
v : dispute or argue stubbornly (especially minor points)
English → English (gcide)
Definition: Stickling
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]