n. [ OE. ban, bon, bone + stickle prickle, sting. See Bone, n., Stickleback. ] (Zool.) A small fish, the three-spined stickleback. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OE. brekil, brokel, bruchel, fr. AS. brecan, E. break. Cf. Brittle. ] Brittle; easily broken. [ Obs. or Prov. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

As stubborn steel excels the brickle glass. Turbervile. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Brittleness. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OE. fikel untrustworthy, deceitful, AS. ficol, fr. fic, gefic, fraud, deceit; cf. fācen deceit, OS. f&unr_;kn, OHG. feichan, Icel. feikn portent. Cf. Fidget. ] Not fixed or firm; liable to change; unstable; of a changeable mind; not firm in opinion or purpose; inconstant; capricious; as, Fortune's fickle wheel. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

They know how fickle common lovers are. Dryden.

Syn. -- Wavering; irresolute; unsettled; vacillating; unstable; inconsonant; unsteady; variable; mutable; changeful; capricious; veering; shifting. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being fickle; instability; inconsonancy. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A bushel basket. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. ikil. See Icicle. ] An icicle. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OE. mikel, muchel, mochel, mukel, AS. micel, mycel; akin to OS. mikil, OHG. mihil, mihhil, Icel. mikill, mykill, Goth. mikils, L. magnus, Gr. me`gas, gen. mega`loy; cf. Skr. mahat. √103. Cf. Much, Muckle, Magnitude. ] Much; great. [ Written also muckle and mockle. ] [ Old Eng. & Scot. ] “A man of mickle might.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The European woodpecker, or yaffle; -- called also nicker pecker. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. & adv. Overmuch. [ Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Obs. ] See Picle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. D. pekel. Probably a dim. fr. Pick, v. t., alluding to the cleaning of the fish. ] 1. (a) A solution of salt and water, in which fish, meat, etc., may be preserved or corned; brine. (b) Vinegar, plain or spiced, used for preserving vegetables, fish, eggs, oysters, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any article of food which has been preserved in brine or in vinegar. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Founding) A bath of dilute sulphuric or nitric acid, etc., to remove burnt sand, scale rust, etc., from the surface of castings, or other articles of metal, or to brighten them or improve their color. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A troublesome child; as, a little pickle. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To be in a pickle, to be in disagreeable position; to be in a condition of embarrassment, difficulty, or disorder. “How cam'st thou in this pickle?” Shak. --
To put a rod in pickle, to prepare a particular reproof, punishment, or penalty for future application. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Pickled p. pr. & vb. n. Pickling ] 1. To preserve or season in pickle; to treat with some kind of pickle; as, to pickle herrings or cucumbers. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To give an antique appearance to; -- said of copies or imitations of paintings by the old masters. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Preserved in a pickle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A herring preserved in brine; a pickled herring. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A merry-andrew; a buffoon. [ Obs. ] Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who makes pickles. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. pricele, pricle; akin to LG. prickel, D. prikkel. See Prick, n. ] 1. A little prick; a small, sharp point; a fine, sharp process or projection, as from the skin of an animal, the bark of a plant, etc.; a spine. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A kind of willow basket; -- a term still used in some branches of trade. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A sieve of filberts, -- about fifty pounds. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To prick slightly, as with prickles, or fine, sharp points. [ 1913 Webster ]

Felt a horror over me creep,
Prickle skin, and catch my breath. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. (Zool.) The stickleback. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. sikel, AS. sicol; akin to D. sikkel, G. sichel, OHG. sihhila, Dan. segel, segl, L. secula, fr. secare to cut; or perhaps from L. secula. See Saw a cutting instrument. ] 1. A reaping instrument consisting of a steel blade curved into the form of a hook, and having a handle fitted on a tang. The sickle has one side of the blade notched, so as always to sharpen with a serrated edge. Cf. Reaping hook, under Reap. [ 1913 Webster ]

When corn has once felt the sickle, it has no more benefit from the sunshine. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Astron.) A group of stars in the constellation Leo. See Illust. of Leo. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sickle pod (Bot.), a kind of rock cress (Arabis Canadensis) having very long curved pods. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) (a) Any one of three species of humming birds of the genus Eutoxeres, native of Central and South America. They have a long and strongly curved bill. Called also the sickle-billed hummer. (b) A curlew. (c) A bird of the genus Epimachus and allied genera. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Furnished with a sickle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Sicklemen One who uses a sickle; a reaper. [ 1913 Webster ]

You sunburned sicklemen, of August weary. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who uses a sickle; a sickleman; a reaper. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Free from sickness. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Give me long breath, young beds, and sickless ease. Marston. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. sicolwyrt. ] (Bot.) (a) A plant of the genus Coronilla (Coronilla scorpioides); -- so named from its curved pods. (b) The healall (Brunella vulgaris). [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Stickled p. pr. & vb. n. Stickling. ] [ Probably fr. OE. stightlen, sti&unr_;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 ]

v. t. 1. To separate, as combatants; hence, to quiet, to appease, as disputants. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Which [ question ] violently they pursue,
Nor stickled would they be. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To intervene in; to stop, or put an end to, by intervening; hence, to arbitrate. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

They ran to him, and, pulling him back by force, stickled that unnatural fray. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. stick, v. t. & i. ] A shallow rapid in a river; also, the current below a waterfall. [ Obs. or Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Patient anglers, standing all the day
Near to some shallow stickle or deep bay. W. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. & Prov E. stickle a prickle, spine, sting (AS. sticel) + back. See Stick, v. t., and cf. Banstickle. ] (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of small fishes of the genus Gasterosteus and allied genera. The back is armed with two or more sharp spines. They inhabit both salt and brackish water, and construct curious nests. Called also sticklebag, sharpling, and prickleback. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Stickle, v. t. ] One who stickles. Specifically: -- [ 1913 Webster ]

(a) One who arbitrates a duel; a sidesman to a fencer; a second; an umpire. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Basilius, the judge, appointed sticklers and trumpets whom the others should obey. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our former chiefs, like sticklers of the war,
First sought to inflame the parties, then to poise. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) One who pertinaciously contends for some trifling things, as a point of etiquette; an unreasonable, obstinate contender; as, a stickler for ceremony. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Tory or High-church were the greatest sticklers against the exorbitant proceedings of King James II. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The stonechat; -- called also stonesmitch. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Strike. ] 1. An instrument to strike grain to a level with the measure; a strike. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An instrument for whetting scythes; a rifle. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Founding) An instrument used for smoothing the surface of a core. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Carp. & Mason.) A templet; a pattern. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. An instrument used in dressing flax. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Strickle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Strickle. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Tickled p. pr. & vb. n. Tickling ] [ Perhaps freq. of tick to beat; pat; but cf. also AS. citelian to tickle, D. kittelen, G. kitzlen, OHG. chizzilōn, chuzzilōn, Icel. kitla. Cf. Kittle, v. t. ] 1. To touch lightly, so as to produce a peculiar thrilling sensation, which commonly causes laughter, and a kind of spasm which become dangerous if too long protracted. [ 1913 Webster ]

If you tickle us, do we not laugh? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To please; to gratify; to make joyous. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such a nature
Tickled with good success, disdains the shadow
Which he treads on at noon. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To feel titillation. [ 1913 Webster ]

He with secret joy therefore
Did tickle inwardly in every vein. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To excite the sensation of titillation. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Ticklish; easily tickled. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Liable to change; uncertain; inconstant. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The world is now full tickle, sikerly. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

So tickle is the state of earthy things. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Wavering, or liable to waver and fall at the slightest touch; unstable; easily overthrown. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Thy head stands so tickle on thy shoulders, that a milkmaid, if she be in love, may sigh it off. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Uncertain; inconstant; slippery. [ Obs. & R. ] Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A coarse, mixed linen fabric made to be sold in the West Indies. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Unsteadiness. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

For hoard hath hate, and climbing tickleness. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, tickles. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Something puzzling or difficult. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A book containing a memorandum of notes and debts arranged in the order of their maturity. [ Com. Cant, U. S. ] Bartlett. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A prong used by coopers to extract bungs from casks. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Trickled p. pr. & vb. n. Trickling ] [ OE. triklen, probably for striklen, freq. of striken to flow, AS. strīcan. See Strike, v. t. ] To flow in a small, gentle stream; to run in drops. [ 1913 Webster ]

His salt tears trickled down as rain. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fast beside there trickled softly down
A gentle stream. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or state of trickling; also, that which trickles; a small stream; drip.

Streams that . . . are short and rapid torrents after a storm, but at other times dwindle to feeble trickles of mud. James Bryce. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]