stickle

Meanings

Noun

• A sharp point; prickle; a spine
• A shallow rapid in a river.
• The current below a waterfall.

Adjective

• steep; high; inaccessible
• high, as the water of a river; swollen; sweeping; rapid

Verb

• To act as referee or arbiter; to mediate.
• To argue or struggle for.
• To raise objections; to argue stubbornly, especially over minor or trivial matters.
• To separate, as combatants; hence, to quiet, to appease, as disputants.
• To intervene in; to stop, or put an end to, by intervening.
• To separate combatants by intervening.
• To contend, contest, or altercate, especially in a pertinacious manner on insufficient grounds.

Origin

• From Middle English *stikel, *stykyl (in compounds), from Old English sticel, from Proto-Germanic *stiklaz, *stikilaz, related to the verb *stikaną.
• From Middle English stikel, from Old English sticel, sticol, from Proto-Germanic *stikulaz, *stikkulaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg-.
• From a variant of stightle, from Middle English stightelen, stiȝtlen, stihilen, stihlen, equivalent to stight + -le.