Burnstickle is a British dialectal name for the stickleback — the small, spiny freshwater fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) found in streams and ponds across Britain and Europe. The name likely combines 'burn' (a Scottish and Northern English word for a stream) with 'stickle' (the fish's spines or a stony shallows). Dialectal and dated; most speakers today would simply say 'stickleback.' Of interest to dialect lovers and local natural history enthusiasts.
The kids spent hours trying to catch burnstickles in the burn at the edge of the field.
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(UK, dialect, dated) A stickleback.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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