▪ I. sticky, a.1
(ˈstɪkɪ)
[f. stick n.1 + -y.]
1. Of plant-stems: Like a stick; woody.
| 1577 Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. 35 The best kinde hath a stickie stalke [orig. caule lignoso]. 1626 Bacon Sylva §583 But Herbs draw a Weake Iuyce; and have a Soft Stalke; And therefore those amongst them which last longest, are Herbs of Strong Smell, and with a Sticky Stalke. 1677 W. Hubbard Narrative 81 The Ground-nuts running up to seed in the summer, began to grow so sticky, as they were scarce eatable. 1765 Museum Rust. III. 186 If he leaves it [vetch] till the seeds are nearly ripe, the stalks harden, grow sticky, and are of far less value. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 570 The stem or blade becomes firm and sticky. 1882 Garden 4 Mar. 141/2 The Mezereon..is so often starved, and sticky and poor. |
2. Painting. Characterized by hardness of outline.
| 1753 Hogarth Anal. Beauty x. 109 Fig. 66..was..treated in a more dry, stiff, and what the painters call ‘sticky’ manner than the nature of flesh is ever capable of appearing in. |
3. colloq. Of a person: Like a ‘stick’; wanting in animation or grace; awkward.
| 1881 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton My Love I. xii. 220 A girl looks such a stick when she does not talk like the rest; and I hate sticky girls. |
▪ II. sticky, a.2
(ˈstɪkɪ)
[f. stick v.1 + -y.]
1. a. Having the property of sticking or adhering; adhesive; also, of a substance, viscid, glutinous. Also fig.
| [1727: cf. stickiness1.] 1735 Dyche & Pardon Dict., Sticky, of a clammy Nature, apt to cleave or adhere to any Thing. 1755 Johnson [with quot. from Bacon: see sticky a.1]. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 31 A well-known sticky substance called putty. 1855 Longfellow Life (1891) II. 290 Everything sticky except postage-stamps. 1864 Intell. Observer V. 269 In like manner limpid fluids oppose less resistance than sticky ones. 1870 Dickens E. Drood iii, I'm too stickey to be kissed. 1908 [Miss E. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 378 Smelling of sticky paint and varnish. 1909 G. Stein Three Lives 27 The horses dragged the carriage slowly over the long road, sticky with brown clay. 1939 Amer. Speech XIV. 262 The listener often hears,..if the subject is a thief, ‘He has sticky fingers.’ 1940 N. Mitford Pigeon Pie v. 95 ‘I have just labelled a few little things of my own..’ she said, putting a sticky one firmly on to the giant radiogram. 1956 H. Gold Man who was not with It (1965) i. 3 They were caught..like the flies caught wriggling in sticky-paper. 1976 A. Miller Inside Outside i. 16 To safeguard the money from the sticky fingers of some of the boys. |
b. Path. Of sounds heard in auscultation: Resembling those produced in viscid substances.
| 1896 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 681 The posterior parts of the lungs are full of sharp, sticky rales of a quality quite peculiar to the disease. 1898 Ibid. V. 756 [Pericardial friction sound] has also been described as ‘sticky’. |
c. Racing and Cricket. Of a course, a wicket: Having a yielding surface owing to wet. Also fig., esp. in phr. to bat (or be) on a sticky wicket: to contend with great difficulties (colloq.).
| 1882 Bell's Life in London 29 July 4/6 The ground..was suffering from the effects of recent rain, and once more the Australians found themselves on a sticky wicket. 1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 14 Mar. 11/1 ‘Do you think the bowler suffers much under the present law?’ ‘Well, he does somewhat; but only on sticky wickets.’ 1894 Westm. Gaz. 17 July 6/3 The hurdle race... Here again the time—16 2-5 sec.—on ‘sticky’ turf, was excellent. 1952 National News-Let. 24 Jan. 244 It must be clearly understood that Mr. Churchill was batting on a very sticky wicket in Washington. 1957 P. Kemp Mine were of Trouble ix. 177 Until substantial reinforcements could arrive we should be batting, in the language of Mr. Naunton Wayne, on a very sticky wicket. 1964 Language XL. 239 Enmeshed in these remarks, however, is a sticky wicket. 1971 Cabinet Maker & Retail Furnisher 24 Sept. 517 When it comes..to moulded plastics of various kinds, then the timber producer is on a stickier wicket. |
d. fig. Sickly, mawkish, sentimental, ‘soppy’.
| 1864 [implied at stickiness1]. 1915 R. Frost Let. 11 Nov. (1964) 17 He needn't go calling himself sticky names like Gayheart in public. 1925 N. Coward Fallen Angels i. 16, I hope you're not..hurt at our refusing to call you Jasmin?.. It's a sticky name, isn't it—for the house? a 1961 O. Sitwell in Webster s.v., Invest childhood with a sticky but romantic gloss. |
e. colloq. (orig. U.S.). Of the weather: humid, muggy.
| 1895 in Funk's Stand. Dict. a 1961 in Webster, A hot and sticky hour or two on shore. 1977 Washington Post 30 June f2/4 Hot, sticky summer weather—the kind of weather that seems to attack the mind as well as the body with its oppressiveness. 1983 National Trust Spring 16/1 On one of those stifling, sticky days of this curious summer.., at rehearsal, the Philharmonia Orchestra and Norman del Mar were all in shirt sleeves. |
2. a. Of a horse: Apt to ‘stick’ at a fence, i.e. to pause before and after the leap.
| 1886 St. Stephen's Rev. 13 Mar. 11/2 He has one fatal fault for a Liverpool horse which is being sticky at his fences. |
b. Of troops: Apt to hesitate in obeying commands.
| 1898 Steevens With Kitchener to Khartum 305 When they were told to bring out their arms and ammunition they became a bit sticky, as soldiers say. They looked like refusing [etc.]. 1902 Macm. Mag. Sept. 394 It was this sort of thing which earned for some troops the..admirably descriptive title of sticky. |
3. a. Stock Exchange. (See quot. 1901)
| 1901 Times 24 Oct. 7/5 [Local Loans Stock] is ceasing to be ‘sticky’, to use the Stock Exchange slang describing a security which cannot always be sold just when the holder chooses. 1937 Sun (Baltimore) 28 June 12/1 Several recent offerings have been described as ‘sticky’ by dealers—meaning only partially sold. 1960 Wall St. Jrnl. (Eastern ed.) 5 Dec. 7/2 Underwriters released two ‘sticky’ corporate debt issues to the free market. |
b. Econ. Of prices, interest rates, wages, etc.: resistant to change, slow to respond to altered conditions.
| 1930 Economist 6 Sept. 453/1 In many cases the amount of available stock has been limited, and when a fair supply has been in sight prices have proved surprisingly ‘sticky’. 1936 J. M. Keynes Gen. Theory Employment, Interest & Money iv. xvii. 232 Wages tend to be sticky in terms of money, the money-wage being more stable than the real wage. 1939 G. Myrdal Monetary Equilibrium vi. 136 When we talk about sticky and flexible prices we are already thinking in terms of indices of different price levels. 1971 D. C. Hague Managerial Economics iv. 94 The idea that the kinked demand curve is likely to be found where there is oligopoly has led to the widespread feeling that in oligopoly prices will be ‘sticky’. 1978 Daily Tel. 18 Dec. 14/7 Building society rates tend to follow movements in market rates only rather erratically and usually with a time-lag. As economists say they tend to be ‘sticky’. |
4. colloq. a. Of a person: difficult to cope with, awkward, uncooperative; strait-laced, punctilious, particular, tending to make difficulties (about or over something).
| 1882 L. Troubridge Life amongst Troubridges (1966) 162 Rather a sticky audience who evidently thought it vulgar to laugh, and only sniggered into their pocket handkerchiefs. 1925 T. E. Lawrence Let. 3 Nov. (1938) 486 I've got too many subscribers, so am very sticky over these last copies. 1933 C. Mackenzie Water on Brain viii. 115 Personally I've always advocated the spending of money. The only snag is the Treasury. They've been sticky lately. 1935 Wodehouse Luck of the Bodkins iii. 34 He didn't actually call me a waster..but his manner was sticky. 1937 E. Bowen in New Statesman 6 Nov. 727/2 Be a shade too punctilious and you are sticky; make a little too free and you are a pariah. 1940 Graves & Hodge Long Week-End ix. 135 Even the stickiest British families seemed ready to abandon their mistrust of the cinema, if the vulgar American scene could only be replaced by a wholesome British one. 1953 J. Bingham Five Roundabouts to Heaven iii. 26 Sometimes aunt Emily was a bit sticky about paying up. 1960 Times 15 Oct. 8/7 We had to be immaculately turned out... Father was very ‘sticky’ about this. 1972 J. Philips Vanishing Senator (1973) iii. ii. 127 Bernstein will tell you. If he acts sticky have him call me. |
b. Of a situation, issue, period of time, etc.: awkward, presenting great difficulty, disagreeable owing to hardship or danger; of a social function: slow to start, stiff, uncomfortable.
| 1915 D. O. Barnett Lett. 86 We had a rather sticky time in the trenches..as the enemy's artillery and snipers showed ‘a certain liveliness’. 1930 ‘Sapper’ Finger of Fate 17 You have the alternative of a sticky five minutes with three savage Alsatians. 1930 V. Sackville-West Edwardians i. 17 What was Miriam's party like, Lucy? Sticky, as usual? 1946 Wodehouse Money in Bank xix. 155 It is a human trait to keep on hoping, however sticky the outlook. 1955 Times 22 Aug. 2/7 The play became rather sticky and it looked like one or two fouls before the umpires blew on a B.A.O.R. player. 1958 Listener 16 Oct. 621/3 This medley of the fine arts and show business may be accommodated to a pleasant pattern later on: it made a sticky start. 1958 [see patch n.1 5 b]. 1960 L. Cooper Accomplices i. ii. 17 It was the stickiest do I've ever been in and I thanked God I'd been taught to fight. 1976 Lancs. Evening Post 7 Dec. 1/5 Preston South Labour MP Mr Stan Thorne..faced the prospect of a sticky interview with Government whips. 1977 B. Pym Quartet in Autumn xv. 127 He was so used to sticky church occasions that a lunch with two former colleagues should have been well within his powers. 1979 Nature 7 June 461/2 The sticky issues, however, will be over the appropriate forms of accountability and responsibility. |
c. Phr. to come to a sticky end (or occas. finish): to die or come to grief in violent or exceptionally unpleasant circumstances.
| 1915 H. Rosher In R.N.A.S. (1916) 40, I wish we could get out to the front... I would much rather come to a sticky end out there than here. 1930 J. Collier His Monkey Wife xviii. 255 Even if our love affair did come to a horrible sticky end, yet there's so much between us. 1930 J. B. Priestley Angel Pavement xi. 566 Never mind, he'll come to a sticky finish before he's done. 1959 F. Maclean Back to Bokhara iii. 152 The reformers..have usually come to a sticky end. 1970 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird ix. 142 The heroines I've seen come to a sticky end because while the murderer's still running around no one calls in the police. 1980 Church Times 19 Dec. 12/3 Some cast away all chances of redemption till they come to a sticky end. |
5. a. Special collocations: sticky-back, a small photograph or poster with a gummed back; also attrib. or as adj.; sticky bomb, an anti-tank grenade covered with an adhesive substance to make it stick to its target; sticky dog Cricket colloq., a sticky wicket; sticky end Genetics, and end of a DNA double helix at which one strand extends a few nucleotides beyond the other, unpaired; sticky-fingered a., apt to steal, light-fingered; sticky tape = adhesive tape s.v. adhesive a. 1.
| 1913 A. H. Dawson Dict. Slang 184 Sticky-backs, photographs about the size of a postage-stamp with gummed backs. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 56 Stamps: sticky-back pictures. 1939 ‘G. Orwell’ Let. 4 Jan. in Coll. Essays (1968) I. 378 The commonsense thing to do would be to accumulate the things we should need for the production of pamphlets, stickybacks etc. 1940 W. S. Churchill Let. 6 June in Second World War (1949) II. i. viii. 149 It is of the utmost importance to find some projectile which can be fired from a rifle at a tank... The ‘sticky’ bomb seems to be useful for..this. 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File vi. 38 It was a sticky bomb about as big as two cans of soup end to end; on impact its very small explosive charge spread a sort of napalm through tank visors. |
| 1925 D. J. Knight in Country Life 18 July 95/1 If you..get a chance of bowling on one of these ‘sticky dogs’, as we call them. 1928 Daily Express 9 July 17/1 Should he bat first or should he put Somerset in and hope for a ‘sticky-dog’ wicket? 1982 P. Tinniswood More Tales from Long Room vii. 86 That great Groundsman in the sky has secured his covers... And when the sun appears again, as appear it always will, there will be no ‘sticky dog’ and play will be resumed on time. |
| 1968 New Scientist 18 July 142/1 This [enzyme] can be used for linking up small nucleotide sequences by what Professor Khorana calls the ‘sticky end’ technique. 1976 Sci. Amer. Dec. 108 (caption) The circle of viral DNA replicates, producing multiple copies that are then cleaved by a specific viral enzyme to give rise to the linear form with ‘sticky’ ends. 1980 Ayala & Kiger Mod. Genetics ix. 327 The purified p184 DNA is mixed with purified DNA from another plasmid..also possessing Eco RI sites. The mixture is cleaved with pure Eco RI enzyme at a temperature that permits the sticky ends to come apart and reanneal..to form larger hybrid plasmids. |
| 1890 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang II. 305/2 Sticky-fingered.., thievish or covetous. 1932 D. Acland Sticky Fingers xxv. 314 What a crew we are—sticky-fingered, every one of us. 1982 Daily Tel. 23 July 30/3 Mr Steel announced menacingly that a list of sticky fingered policemen had been made available. |
| 1958 Times 4 Aug. 9/1 What is the sense of combining the most obdurate kind of fastening (sticky tape, for instance) with the flimsiest of paper bags? 1973 R. Parkes Guardians ix. 162 The naked body had been strapped into the armchair with yards of sticky tape. |
b. Comb. sticky-out a. colloq., that protrudes or sticks out.
| 1928 D. L. Sayers Unpleasantness at Bellona Club x. 118 She has a bad skin and rather sticky-out teeth. 1957 Woman's Jrnl. May 51/1 People who had bright red hair and sticky-out teeth and glasses weren't the sort..that any parents wanted to adopt. |
Add: [1.] f. Damp with sweat.
| 1961 M. G. Eberhart Cup, Blade, or Gun xi. 127 She felt cold and hot, sticky and chilly at the same time. 1968 J. Lock Lady Policeman viii. 60 My serge skirt feels heavy, my feet feel hot and sticky. 1978 Washington Post 8 Aug. b7/1 The air has become almost saturated with moisture. As a result, the perspiration lies on your skin and you feel hot and sticky. 1988 P. P. Read Season in West vii. 94 Feeling sticky after a day in a dirty city..Birek decided to take a bath. |
▸ sticky bun n. a sweet bun, esp. one covered in icing or sugar; (N. Amer.) a (typically spiral-shaped) bun with a filling of nuts or dried fruit and a sticky caramelized coating.
| 1909 Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Daily Press 31 Aug. 2/4 Josef's thoughts and fingers lingered around a *sticky bun in his desk. 1961 Times 14 Mar. 7/3 There are no more sticky buns or cream doughnuts for hungry schoolboys at March Grammar School. 2003 J. Lahiri Namesake (2004) 137 The first morning he'd slept over he'd been mortified to face them.., but they'd merely smiled,..and offered him warm sticky buns from their favorite neighborhood bakery. |
▸ sticky foam n. chiefly U.S. a highly adhesive viscous substance in the form of a foam which can be sprayed in string-like ribbons as a means of immobilizing a person, disabling a mechanism, etc.
| 1978 Energy Research Abstr. (U.S. Department of Energy) 30 Nov. 5281/2 *Sticky foam... Access to a space is impeded by the generation of a sticky foam from a tacky polymeric resin and a low-boiling-point solvent. 1985 Washington Post 27 Aug. a5/5 When the lock is tampered with, it ‘releases a substance that's stickier than molasses into the locking mechanism’, Hoover said. ‘We call it sticky foam, and we think it works.’ 1997 Dallas Morning News (Electronic ed.) 14 Sept. 12 a, Net guns, sticky foam and a battery of less-lethal weaponry that once would have been more likely in a James Bond movie than on the streets of a large city. |
▸ Computing. Of a web site: attracting long or repeated visits from users.
| 1996 Boston Globe 13 Dec. c16/2 You have to make your Web site sticky; you have to make it fun and entertaining so people will want to come back. 2001 Yahoo! Internet Life July 81/1 Sites were designed to be ‘sticky’ so people wouldn't leave. 2006 Observer (Nexis) 26 Mar. 9 News Corp's plan is to improve on the portal model by making MySpace inherently sticky using both technology and content. |
▪ III. sticky, n.
(ˈstɪkɪ)
[Ellipt. use of sticky a.2]
1. slang. Something that is sticky, spec. (a) an adhesive material; (b) a sticky wicket.
| 1859 Hotten Dict. Slang 102 Sticky, wax. 1937 Partridge Dict. Slang 831/1 Sticky,..sticking-plaster: lower and lower-middle class coll. 1954 A. G. Moyes Australian Batsmen 184 Again, the ‘sticky’ provides plenty of excitement. 1966 I. Jefferies House-Surgeon viii. 154 Bring me some more sticky and that pint of blood in the fridge. 1967 Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 1390/2 Sticky,..since late 1940's, usu. cellulose tape (Sellotape, Scotch tape, etc.). 1975 Daily Mail 3 June 11/2 As well as cash, the thieves took ‘stickies’—the slang term for postage, national insurance and TV licence stamps. 1982 Private Eye 13 Aug. 13/2 All you ever get in the Alps is some ghastly sticky made out of rotting Edelweiss. |
2. A film of which the action is slow-moving. nonce-wd. (humorously after movies).
| 1936 E. M. Forster Abinger Harvest 51 British ladies and gentlemen turn the movies into the stickies for old Elstree's sake. |
▸ A small piece of notepaper with an adhesive strip along one edge of the reverse side, enabling it to be stuck temporarily to a surface, esp. as a marker or for messages, comments, or reminders. Freq. in yellow sticky (yellow being the original and most frequent colour of these). Cf. Post-it n.
| 1986 Chicago Tribune 3 Aug. vi. 3/1 I'm now addicted to the ‘yellow stickies’, jabbing them on such things as books, articles, cartoons, letters, floppy disks and the refrigerator. 1991 Garbage Mar.–Apr. 64/2 As you happily plaster recycled stickies on your desk and walls, remember that the glue added to the back makes the paper difficult to recycle again. 2000 I. Pattison Stranger here Myself (2001) 335 He opened a thick medical tome marked at a picture page with a yellow sticky and hid behind his pointing finger. |
▪ IV. sticky, v. colloq.
(ˈstɪkɪ)
[f. sticky a.2]
trans. To smear with something sticky.
| 1865 Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. xxxv, Cook wanted a jar of preserve,..I was sadly afraid of stickying my gloves. 1894 Harper's Mag. May 853/1 He's stickying all the velvet seat with his hands. |