different between stickle vs stickler

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?st?k(?)l/
• Rhymes: -?k?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English *stikel, *stykyl (in compounds), from Old English sticel (“a prickle, sting, goad”), from Proto-Germanic *stiklaz, *stikilaz (“sting, stinger, peak, cup, goblet”).

Noun

stickle (plural stickles)

1. A sharp point; prickle; a spine

Derived terms

• stickleback

Etymology 2

From Middle English stikel, from Old English sticel, sticol (“high, lofty, steep, reaching great heights, inaccessible”), from Proto-Germanic *stikulaz, *stikkulaz (“high, steep”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to stick; peak”).

Adjective

stickle (comparative more stickle, superlative most stickle)

1. steep; high; inaccessible
2. (Britain, dialect) high, as the water of a river; swollen; sweeping; rapid

Noun

stickle (plural stickles)

1. (Britain, dialect) A shallow rapid in a river.
2. (Britain, dialect) The current below a waterfall.
   • 1613, William Browne, Britannia's Pastorals

     Patient anglers, standing all the day / Near to some shallow stickle or deep bay.

Etymology 3

From a variant of stightle (“to order, arrange, direct”), from Middle English stightelen, sti?tlen, stihilen, stihlen, equivalent to stight (“to order, rule, govern”) +? -le (frequentative suffix).

Verb

stickle (third-person singular simple present stickles, present participle stickling, simple past and past participle stickled)

1. (obsolete) To act as referee or arbiter; to mediate.
2. (now rare) To argue or struggle for.
   • 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew

     ‘She has other people than poor little you to think about, and has gone abroad with them; so you needn’t be in the least afraid she’ll stickle this time for her rights.’

3. To raise objections; to argue stubbornly, especially over minor or trivial matters.
   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History

     Miserable new Berline! Why could not Royalty go in some old Berline similar to that of other men? Flying for life, one does not stickle about his vehicle.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To separate, as combatants; hence, to quiet, to appease, as disputants.
   • 1630, Michael Drayton, The Muses' Elizium

     Which [question] violently they pursue, / Nor stickled would they be.

5. (transitive, obsolete) To intervene in; to stop, or put an end to, by intervening.
6. (intransitive, obsolete) To separate combatants by intervening.

   • When he [the angel] sees half of the Christians are already killed, and all the rest in a fair way to be routed, [he]stickles betwixt the remainders of God’s host, and the race of fiends.

7. (intransitive, obsolete) To contend, contest, or altercate, especially in a pertinacious manner on insufficient grounds.

   • Fortune, as she’s wont, turned fickle, / And for the foe began to stickle.

   • 1684, John Dryden, To The Disappointment

     for paltry punk they roar and stickle

   • c. 1817, William Hazlitt, Character of John Bull

     the obstinacy with which he stickles for the wrong

Derived terms

• stickler

Further reading

• stickle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• stickle in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• stickle at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Stickel, Tickles, icklest, lickest, tickles

English

Etymology

From Middle English stighteler, stytelere, equivalent to stickle +? -er. The judges at Cornish wrestling matches do indeed carry sticks which serve for signalling and as a badge of their office. This practice has evolved from holding swords and then swordsticks.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?st?k.l?/

Noun

stickler (plural sticklers)

1. (now only Cornwall) A referee or adjudicator at a fight, wrestling match, duel, etc. who ensures fair play. [from 16th c.]
   • 1658, John Dryden, Stanza to Oliver Cromwell

2. Someone who insistently advocates for something. [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: dogmatist, formalist, pedant, traditionalist

   • 1713, Jonathan Swift, A Preface to Bishop Burnet's Introduction

Related terms

• stickle

Translations

Anagrams

• strickle, ticklers, trickles