s.w. dial. [Ellipt. use of STICKLE a.] A place in a river where the bed slopes and the water is shallow and runs swiftly; a rapid.
1616. W. Browne, Brit. Past., II. iv. 108. Patient Anglers standing all the day Neere to some shallow stickle or deepe bay.
1857. G. H. Kingsley, Sport & Trav. (1900), 450. I … rushed frantically through stickle and over stone.
1887. W. H. H. Rogers, Mem. West, ii. 19. A kind of little bay among some reeds at the foot of a stickle.
1897. Encycl. Sport, I. 583/2. (Hunting, otter) Stickle, West country term for a shallow.
