Also 6 styckler, stiklar, stickeler, 7 sticler. [f. STICKLE v. + -ER1. Cf. the earlier STIFFLER, STIGHTLER.]
1. A moderator or umpire at a tournament, a wrestling or fencing match, etc., appointed to see fair play, and to part the combatants when they have fought enough (obs. exc. s.w. dial.). Hence, † One who intervenes as a mediator between combatants or disputants.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Interpres,… also a styckler betwene two, whiche are at varyaunce.
1549. Chaloner, Erasm. on Folly, N iij b. Hereby it appeared that Jesus was the stickler or mediator.
1572. Huloet (ed. Higins), Stickeler in games, Designator, Arbiter certaminis.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, I. xvii. § 1 (1912), 105. Basilius the Judge appointed sticklers, and trumpets, to whom the other should obey. Ibid., § 5. 109. Basilius rising himselfe [came] to parte them, the sticklers authoritie scarslie able to perswade cholerike hearers.
1602. Parsons, Warn-word to Sir F. Hastings, I. 14. Receauing for his gaine the first broken head as wrangling sticlers ar wont to do.
1613–8. Daniel, Coll. Hist. Eng. (1626), 99. Theobald Earle of Bloys, that famous Stickler betweene the Kings of England and France.
a. 1656. Ussher, Ann. (1658), 722. He sent Octavia … to her brother Cæsar, that she might be a stickler between them.
1659. Dryden, Death of Oliver, xi. Our former Chiefs, like Sticklers of the War, First sought t’inflame the Parties, then to poise.
1825. Jennings, Dial. W. Eng., 72. Stickler, a person who presides at backsword or singlestick, to regulate the game.
1897. Phillpotts, Lying Prophets, I. v. 50. You ’m like the stickler at a wras’lin’ match,… you sees fair play betwixt God an’ man.
Comb. 1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., V. viii. 18. The dragon wing of night ore-spreds the earth And stickler-like the Armies seperates.
† b. fig. of things. Obs.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, etc. (Arb.), 145. Thy nose, as a stickler, toe toe long vs parteth a sunder.
1598. Norden, Spec. Brit., M’sex & Herts, II. 6. The Lea … continuing her most milde course as stickler betweene Essex and Middlesex.
1618. Bolton, Florus, III. x. (1636), 199. The tide withdrawing upon course during the skirmish, the Ocean might, as it were, seemne to have been stickler in the battell.
† c. A composer or reconciler of (strife). Cf. STICKLE v. 2. Obs.
1624. Bp. Hall, No Peace with Rome, iii. Wks. (1634), 608. Those honest and good-natured men, which would needs undertake to bee the sticklers of these strifes.
† 2. One who takes an active or busy part (in a contest, affair, cause, etc.); an active partisan; a (great, chief, etc.) agent, mover or instigator.
1565. Calfhill, Answ. Treat. Crosse, Ep. to Martiall B j b. Erasmus a gret stickler in the crosse quarrell.
1619. Denison, Heav. Banq., 64. Andradius a principall stickler at the Councell of Trent, and a vehement defender thereof.
1643. Decl. Commons (Reb. Ireland), 22. The Queen with her Romish Priests … have been principall Actours and Sticklers herein.
1663. Patrick, Pilgrim, v. (1687), 16. [He] is generally decry’d by all parties, as no friend to Truth, because he is no great stickler about the Questions that have vexed our unhappy days.
1690. C. Nesse, O. & N. T., I. 30. Oleaster, that grand stickler in the Spanish Inquisition.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Heracleonites, They were so fond of these Mystic Interpretations, that Origen, tho’ a Stickler that Way himself, was obliged to reproach Heracleon with his abusing Scripture by that Means.
† b. In unfavorable sense: A factious, seditious or pragmatic contender; a wrangler, one who stirs up strife; a meddler, busybody. Obs.
1579, 1643: cf. Jack-stickler, JACK sb.1 35.
1641. Quarles, Enchyridion, I. xlviii. True Religion is a Setler in a State, rather than a Stickler.
1692. R. L’Estrange, Josephus, Wars, II. iii. (1733), 615. And for those Sticklers that Varus found to be least malicious, he order’d them to be kept in Custody.
1693. Penn, Some Fruits Solit., I. § 531. A devout Man is one thing, a Stickler is quite another.
1696. Phillips (ed. 5), Stickler, a Busie Body in Publick Business, a Promoter of Faction and Disturbance.
† 3. One who fights or contends against (a person, cause, etc.); an opponent, antagonist; one who makes difficulties or raises objections. Obs.
1613. Jackson, Creed, I. xv. 73. Diomedes (who was one of the greatest sticklers against Troy).
1718. Bp. Hutchinson, Witchcraft, 63. Where they might do what they would, without being controuled by Sticklers.
1735. Bp. Gibson, in Fraser, Life Berkeley (1871), vii. 238. The men of science … are the greatest sticklers against revealed religion.
1825. Cobbett, Rur. Rides, 197. Sir Thomas Baring appears to have been the great stickler against Mr. Hollis.
1826. Creevey, in C. Papers (1903), II. 100. If a good ultra-Tory Government could be made, Canning and Huskisson must inevitably be ruined by this daring step. You never heard such language as the old sticklers apply to them.
1846. Landor, Imag. Conv., Wks. II. 42. There are nowhere such stiff sticklers against idolatry, at the present day, as those gentlemen.
4. With for: One who contends for, pertinaciously supports, or advocates (a cause, principle, person, party, etc.); one who insists on or stands out for (something established by rule or custom, a form, ceremony, etc.).
1644. D. Featley, Levites Scourge, 6. A great stickler for the new Reformation.
1654. Vilvain, Theorem Theol., ii. 49. Dr. Ward, a stif Stickler for effectual Grace.
1660. J. Davies, Hist. Chas. II., 68. Nor wanted there some sticklers for his Majesty.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. 61. Your sticklers for indifferency of will.
1792. A. Young, Trav. France, 110. He is one of the most zealous sticklers for the popular cause.
1820. Byron, Mar. Fal., III. ii. 191. A stickler for the Senate and ‘the Forty.’
1829. Cassan, Bps. Bath & Wells, 162. He was a stickler for the Hanover succession.
1838. Dickens, Nickleby, xlv. She was a great stickler for dignity and ceremonies.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, ix. Sir Pitt was a stickler for his dignity while at home.
1879. Dixon, Windsor, I. xxiii. 241. Beaufort was no stickler for pedantic rules.
1887. Poor Nellie (1888), 294. His father, who was somewhat of a stickler for etiquette.
1898. G. W. E. Russell, Collect. & Recoll., xxxiv. 455. Even Mr. Gladstone, the stiffest of sticklers for official reticence, held that a Cabinet Minister might impart his secrets to his wife and his Private Secretary.
1901. Scotsman, 4 March, 7/5. The Great Duke was a stickler for the principle that the Sovereign is the real head of the army.
† 5. A second or backer in a contest. Obs.
1672. G. Thomson, Lett. to H. Stubbe, 28. Stubbe, and the rest of the Galenical Tribe, with all their Sticklers.
1678. Wood, Life (O.H.S.), II. 418. One of the principall parishioners and sticklers to the bishop against Oats.
1705. Hickeringill, Priest-cr., I. 14. Priests of all Religions … are the Sticklers, and clap their Hands, and cry Hulloo; setting the mad and Priest-ridden Laity at work, to fight up to the Ears in Blood for them.
1711. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 177. Their fathers were honest men, and sticklers to their lawful Prince.
1716. Hearne, Collect. (O. H. S.), V. 266. One of his great sticklers for the Degree of Master of Arts was Dr. Hudson.
1755. Johnson, Stickler, a sidesman to fencers; a second to a duellist.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, vi. My ambition of distinction in arms, and my love of strife … do not fight even-handed with my reason … but have their patrons and sticklers to egg them on.
[Stickler, erron. form (in Dicts.) of STICKER2.]
