▪ I. stick, n.1
(stɪk)
Forms: 1 sticca, 3–7 sticke, 3–5 stikke, 4–5 stykke, 4–6 stik, styke, 5 stike, 5–6 styk, stycke, 6 styck, stykk, 6– stick.
[OE. sticca masc. = ? OS. stekko (Gallée), MDu. stecke masc., fem. also stec masc., neut. (mod.Du. stek fem.), OHG. stecko (MHG. stecke, mod.G. stecken):—OTeut. type *stikkon- (a synonymous *stikon- is represented by the parallel forms OHG. stehho, MHG. steche masc.; cf. also ON. stika fem., stick, yardstick, kerta-stika candlestick, MSw. stikka, mod.Sw. sticka fem. stick, chip), f. Teut. root *stik- to pierce, prick: see stick v.]
I. A rod or staff of wood.
1. a. A short piece of wood, esp. a piece cut and shaped for a special purpose, usually with defining word indicating its use, as in bung-stick, potstick, setting-stick, tooth-stick, etc.
In OE. also in the specific applications ‘tent-peg’ and ‘pointer of a dial’: see Bosworth-Toller.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 386 Ᵹenim tweᵹen..sticcan federecgede & writ on æᵹðerne sticcan..an pater noster. c 1450 Bk. Curtasye 94 in Babees Bk. (1868) 180 Clense not thi tethe at mete sittande, Withe knyfe ne stre, styk ne wande. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 334 The next Morning pluck out the Bung-stick or Plug. 1913 M. W. H. Beech in Man XIII. 5 [It] can be used as either the female, i.e., the passive stick of the fire drill or for the male or active stick. |
† b. A piece of wood used as a tally. Also
white stick.
Obs. as specific sense.
| c 1380, c 1400 [see white stick]. 1500 God Speed Plough (E.E.T.S.) 30 And to the kyngis courte we moste it lede, And our payment shalbe a styk of A bough. 1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. §141 Yf he [the husbandman] canne not wryte, let hym nycke the defautes vppon a stycke, and shewe his bayely. 1664 Marquis of Newcastle in M'ness Newcastle Sociable Lett. To Author, Each Tavern-token, Nick'd Sticks for Merchants [etc.]. 1737 Pope Hor. Epist. i. i. 84 To him who notches sticks at Westminster. 1784 Cowper Tiroc. 559 Th' indented stick, that loses day by day Notch after notch. 1846–8 Lowell Biglow P. Ser. i. ix. 61 Wy, into Bellers's we notched the votes down on three sticks. |
c. Mining. (See
quot. 1899.)
| 1708 J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 37 The..chief Banck's-Man..takes an Account..by Sticks or Pieces of Wood. 1797 J. Curr Coal Viewer 20 Nogs and boxes for mottys, or sticks, to distinguish the Corf, 0. 0. 6. 1899 Dickinson & Prevost Cumbld. Gloss., Stick, the wooden token whereon was branded the distinguishing number of the hewer in the coal pit. |
d. the (sixty or sixty-four) sticks of fate: the apparatus employed in a Chinese method of divination.
| ? c 1850 Lady Dufferin (title of poem) Consulting the ‘Sticks of Fate’. 1860 Cobbold Pict. Chinese 14. 1884 Friend Flowers & Flower-lore I. 268. |
2. a. A slender branch or twig of a tree or shrub
esp. when cut or broken off. Now
rare.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 142 Læt yrnan þat blod on grennne [sic] sticcan hæslenne. c 1200 Vices & Virtues 135 Ne lat hie nawht ðe hande pleiȝende mid stikke, ne mid strawe—nis þat non god tocne of ripe manne. 13.. K. Alis. 4425 (Laud MS.), Þe speres crakeþ also þicke So on hegge sere stykke. c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 423 So grete trees..of..fourty fifty fedme lengthe Clene withoute bowgh or stikke. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) vii. 25 Þe preste..lays þerapon spiceries..and stikkes of þe iunipre tree. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, i. ii. 33 He that breakes a sticke of Glosters groue, Shall loose his head for his presumption. 1620 Quarles Feast for Worms K 4, Thou, in whose distrustfull brest Despayre hath brought in sticks to build her nest. 1735 Dict. Polygraph. s.v. Verdegris, This [crystallised verdegrease] commonly comes from Holland..on sticks in form like our sugar-candy. To be good, these crystals must be..as free from sticks as possible. |
b. pl. Pieces of cut or broken branches, also pieces of cut and chopped wood, used as fuel.
| c 1200 Ormin 8651, & her I gaddre stikkess twa..To ᵹarrkenn þatt to fode. c 1300 Havelok 914 Stickes kan ich breken and kraken, And kindlen ful wel a fyr. 1382 Wyclif Numb. xv. 32 Thei fonden a man gederynge stikkis in the holi day. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 807 Stikkes to a fyre þai gadird fast. 1653 Walton Angler xi[xvi]. 209 Come, Hostis,..lay a few more sticks on the fire. 1737 Pope Hor. Epist. ii. ii. 242 Such large-acred men..Buy every stick of wood that lends them heat. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 117 Seeking..her harmless sticks from hedges hung with rime. 1902 A. Symons Stud. Prose & Verse (1904) 251 Mr. Phillips has laid the paper, the sticks, and the coals neatly in the grate. |
† c. A piece of wood from the hearth, a brand.
stick of fire, a firebrand.
Obs.| 1538 Elyot Dict., Torris, a stycke of fyre. 1607 Dekker Jests to make Merry 33 Your Glimerer, shees vp in the morning betweene 5 or 6 of the clock..and with a black brand in her hand... If she but perceiue a light..she desires to haue leaue to kindle her stick. |
d. A twiggy bough or long rod stuck in the ground for a plant to ‘run’ upon, more definitely
bean-stick,
pea-stick.
| 1577 Googe tr. Heresbach's Husb. 33 There are two sortes of Pease, the one sort..runneth vp vppon stickes. 1741 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Phaseolus, [The Scarlet Bean] being supported either with Sticks or Strings, grows up to a good Height. |
3. a. A stem or thick branch of a tree cut and trimmed and used as timber for building, fencing, etc.; a stave, stake. Also
fig. Cf. sense 6.
| c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 28 A yeerd she hadde, enclosed al aboute With stikkes. 1577 Googe tr. Heresbach's Husb. 41 b, They vse a greater Sythe with a long Suath, and fenced with a crooked frame of stickes, wherwith with both their hands they cut downe the Corne, and laye it in Swathes. 1644 [see hedge n. 6]. 1707 Fountainhall Decis. (1761) II. 408 The pursuer had no inclosure..neither was their a stick of planting or hedging therein. |
b. every stick, the whole materials of a building: used (sometimes
advb.) to emphasize total destruction or ruin. Also negatively:
(to leave) not a stick.
| 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1725) 113 Carro, Lodelow toun,..Dunford & Maltone, Steuen wan þam ilk a stik. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 1311 Þus þe strenth [of Alexander's towers] ilk stike was in a stounde wasted. c 1450 Brut 577 Thai brake vp al þe lede of the halle and of þe toures, and brent vp euery stykke. 1557–71 A. Jenkinson Voy. & Trav. (Hakl. Soc.) II. 339 One of ye dukes howses..was consomed with fyer and not one stick left. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 616/2 Of all townes, castels, fortes, bridges, and habitations, they left not any stick standing. 1625 in Foster Eng. Factories India (1909) III. 80 The Sultan suffaringe not a sticke to bee puld downe out of aney house. |
c. Similarly in alliterative expressions,
esp. (every, both) stick and stone,
stick and stour dial.,
stick and stow Sc. and
north. (
cf. stab and stow,
stab n.2),
stick and stock.
| c 1436 Brut 583 Þe Calisers..bare lxiii clene away, Euery stikke & stone, & lafte not ther one log. 1459 Sir J. Fastolf Will in Paston Lett. I. 462 That thanne the said John Paston shulde doo poule down the said mansion and every stone and stikke therof. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 232 b, [He] to declare hym selfe [free from the assumption of kingly power], was fain to pul down his hous sticke and stone euen to y⊇ plain grounde. 1600 Fairfax Tasso ix. ix, Godfrey meane-while to ruin sticke and stone Of this faire towne, with battrie sore, assaies. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Burn. Pestle ii. i, Shee swore, neuer to marry, But such a one, whose mighty arme could carry..Her bodily away through sticke and stone. 1792 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Lyric Ep. Ld. Macartney xxxvii. Wks. 1816 II. 355 For troops..May, like wild meteors, pour into mine east, And leave my palace neither stick nor stone. 1904 Athenæum 27 Aug. 271/3 Every stick and stone of Beau Nash's Pump Room [at Bath] has long since passed away. |
| c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 7177 Þe place was brynt, styk and stoure, Abbay and house. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Stick and stour,..Often used to signify all a person's goods and chattels. ‘They've sell'd him up, stick an' stour’. |
| 1786 Burns To W. Simpson Postscr. ix, Folk thought them ruin'd stick-an-stowe. 1862 C. C. Robinson Dial. Leeds 422 A nasty, thratching hussey!—shoo wants bundiling art o't' street stick an' stow. |
| 1880 Baring-Gould Mehalah xii. (1884) 161 Cousin Charles is not the man to see his relatives sold up stick and stock. |
d. stick and rag: see
quot.| 1911 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 786/1 Fibrous plaster is given by plasterers the suggestive name ‘stick and rag’,..for it is composed of plaster laid upon a backing of canvas stretched on wood. |
e. over the sticks: in steeplechasing and hurdleracing.
| 1898 T. Haydon Sporting Reminisc. 67 The quality of the competitors, both in flat races and ‘over the sticks’ was of the highest class. |
4. a. A long and relatively slender piece of wood, whether in natural form or shaped with tools, cut or broken of a convenient length for handling.
cleft stick: see
cleft ppl. a.
| c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 712 In his hand he bar An holwe stikke..In the ende of which an Ounce..Of siluer lemaille put was as bifore. 1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. §21 And in his other hande he hath a forked stycke a yarde longe, and with his forked stycke he putteth the wede from hym. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 30 b, Whiche by theyr enchauntementes made serpentes of styckes. 1590 Lucar Lucarsolace i. iv. 11 Take vp your Geometricall table,..leauing an arrow or sticke set vpright in the point of grounde directly vnder B. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ iii. i. §17 So in the sight of a stick, when under water, the representation of it by the sense to imagination is as crooked. 1784 Cowper Task i. 561 A Kettle, slung Between two poles upon a stick transverse. 1889 Doyle Micah Clarke v, Like the turnip on a stick at which we used to throw at the fairs. |
b. A staff, club, cudgel used as a weapon. Proverbial phrases:
to be after (someone) with a sharp stick: (see
quot. 1848);
a stick to beat (someone or something) with (
perh. with ref. to the proverb: see
quot. 1782). Also contrasted with
carrot (
= reward): see
carrot n. 2 a.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 14 Al-þough þow stryke me with þi staffe with stikke or with ȝerde. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health (1870) 84 For the Feuer lurden..Take me a stycke or wan[d] of a yerde of length and more..and with it anoynt the bake. 1605 Shakes. Lear ii. iv. 125 She knopt 'em o'th' coxcombs with a sticke, and cryed downe wantons, downe. 1664 in Verney Mem. (1904) II. 214 [If the] Whelps meddle with Sheepe, they must be..whipped soundly, but not beaten with Stickes. 1847 W. C. L. Martin Ox 139/2 Contusions, and the blows of cattle-drivers, merciless in the use of their sticks about the heads of the poor beasts. 1850 A. M'Gilvray Poems 69 For he has laid, with their own sticks, The strongest watchmen down. |
| phrases. 1653 D. Osborne Let. 24 July (1903) 125 What reason had I to furnish you with a stick to beat myself withal? 1782 F. Hopkinson Misc. Essays I. 266 A proverb..naturally occurs on this occasion: It is easy to find a stick to beat a dog. 1848 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Sharp stick. He's after him with a sharp stick; i.e. he's determined to have satisfaction or revenge. 1871 Trenton State Sentinel 26 May in Schele de Vere Americanisms 631 We are pleased to see that the New York Tribune is still after Senators Carpenter, Conkling and others, with a very sharp stick, for [etc.]. 1889 G. B. Shaw in English Illustr. Mag. Oct. 49 A few of us go to Bayreuth because it is a capital stick to beat a dog with. 1928 D. H. Lawrence in Evening News 8 May 8/4 The last stupid stick with which the old can beat the young. 1962 Listener 5 Apr. 597/2 Israel has sometimes been just another stick with which the Arabs beat each other. 1966 Ibid. 9 June 824/2 The Liberals had been glad to use the horror [at Turkish atrocities] felt by people in Britain as a stick with which to beat the Conservatives. |
c. (Chiefly
the stick.) A beating with a stick. Hence (without article)
transf., severe physical handling, ‘punishment’;
fig. unfavourable criticism, censure, reproof. Usu. in phrases
to come in for stick,
get stick,
give stick, or
take stick.
to eat stick: see
eat v. 2 d.
| 1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain i. viii, Come in, ye bad girls, or I'll give you the stick. 1884 S. St. John Hayti iii. 81 The productiveness of the north [of Hayti] was founded on the liberal application of the stick. 1886 ‘Maxwell Gray’ Silence Dean Maitland I. v. 125 He'll do what he is told now without the stick. 1892 Mrs. H. Ward David Grieve i. iv, Mak her behave... She'll want a stick takken to her, soon, I can see. 1942 E. African Ann. 1941–2 115/1 The Italians nipped across from Diredawa, and, as the troops say, ‘gave us stick’. 1956 People 13 May 14/8 As usual the Australians are getting plenty of stick from the armchair critics. 1967 J. Burke Till Death us do Part vii. 116 He went out on the booze... She didn't half give him some stick when she found out. 1977 J. Wainwright Nest of Rats iii. v. 205 We took some stick, and we gave some stick... I belted that face. 1980 Daily Tel. 11 Apr. 19/2, I told him that he could expect trouble from the branches... He will come in for some stick over this. |
d. = walking-stick.
| 1620 E. Blount's Horæ Subs. 33 Some had rather bee lame..of a legge, then lose the grace of carrying a French sticke. 1792 C. Smith Desmond II. 285, I tapped at the old, thick, carved door with my stick. 1892 Rider Haggard Nada the Lily xviii. 145 We went on in silence, the king leaning on my shoulder as on a stick. |
e. A rod of dignity or office, a baton; also the bearer of such a stick.
Cf. gold stick,
white stick.
| 1688 Lond. Gaz. 22 Oct. 7 He had the Honour to be in Waiting upon the King with the Stick. 1833 Hood Publ. Dinner 14 Twelve sticks come attending A stick of a Chair⁓man. 1876 Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 409/2 Stick, Silver, the field officer of the life guards, when on duty, is called silver stick. 1892 Huxley in L. Huxley Life (1900) II. 328 Then waiting about while the various ‘sticks’ were delivered. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 25 June 4/1 One of the ‘Sticks’ now doing duty at Buckingham Palace. |
f. Basket-making. (See
quot. 1910.)
| 1907 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 11 Jan. 190/1 A dog or commander for straightening the sticks. 1910 Encycl. Brit. III. 482/1 Rods..known as ‘sticks’, are used to form the rigid frame⁓work of the bottoms and lids of square work. |
g. In
Candlemaking, the rod to which the wicks are attached in order to be dipped:
= broach n.1 2 b. Hence, the candles made at one dipping.
| 1711 Act 10 Anne c. 26 §106 Every Chandler..shall..declare..the Number of Sticks which he designs to make..and also the Sizes of the Candles whereof each Stick is to consist. 1751 Chambers' Cycl. s.v. Candle, The workman..takes two sticks [ed. 1727 rods], or broches, at a time, strung with the proper number of wicks. |
h. The rod of a sky-rocket (see
quot. 1886).
| 1651 J. White Rich Cabinet (1677) 83 Rockets whose sticks are longer than the staffe. 1792 T. Paine Let. to Addressers Proclam. 4 As he rose like a rocket, he fell like the stick. 1848 Alb. Smith Chr. Tadpole xxiv. 218 You'll go off like a regular rocket—all stars and no stick. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XX. 136/2 The stick of the sky-rocket serves the purpose of guiding and balancing it in its flight. |
i. A conductor's baton.
| 1849 Hamilton's Celebrated Dict. s.v. Battre la mesure, To mark the time by beating with the hand or with a stick etc. 1884 F. Niecks Dict. Mus. Terms s.v. Bâton, A stick used for beating time. Ibid. s.v. Taktstock, a conducting stick. 1920 A. Boult Handbk. Technique Conducting 7 The conductor has, therefore, had to learn to show his ideas on the interpretation of a work by means of his stick and hand. 1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 14 May 394/2 Stickless conducting..may suffice in ordinary class-room teaching; but in the interests of festival work..it is better to accustom all singers to watch a stick and to train up a generation of conductors who know the technique of using it. 1955 Times 2 Feb. 6/3 There were moments when a loose movement of the stick gave away a little concentration in the quiet entries of the strings. 1978 Gramophone Feb. 1390/1 His mentor was band leader Joe Loss. ‘When Loss used a stick the bounce and freedom within a beat was masterly.’ |
5. spec. in various games.
a. A staff used for striking or pushing, as in Hockey; also applied to a billiard cue, a golf club, or the like.
| 1674 Cotton Compl. Gamester (1680) 25 (Billiards) He that removes the Port with his Stick when he strikes his Ball, and thereby prevents his Adversaries Ball from passing, loseth an end. 1726 Art & Myst. Mod. Gaming 109 They had Drawers, with Lock and Key, made for each of them to put their Sticks into, in the Billiard Room... When R came afterwards to play with the Stick, B beat him. 1857 H. B. Farnie Golfer's Man. in Golfiana Misc. (1887) 134 We shall, therefore, take the clubs seriatim..and explain, in each case, what constitutes a good stick. 1896–7 Rules of Hockey (ed. 12) 21 The sticks shall have no metal fittings whatever, and no sharp edges. |
b. Hence in Hockey,
sticks, the word used by the umpire in declaring a breach of rule committed by improperly handling the stick; a breach of rule of this kind.
| 1896–7 Rules of Hockey (ed. 12) 26 Except so far as Rule 14 applies to ‘sticks,’ for which a ‘bully’ only to be allowed. Ibid. 33 ‘Sticks’ should be given, if a player's stick is above his shoulder after hitting or missing the ball. |
c. Cricket.
pl. The stumps of a wicket, the wickets.
rare in
sing. unless with qualifying word, as
middle stick.
between the sticks, at the wickets, batting, ‘in’.
behind the sticks, keeping the wicket or acting as wicket-keeper.
in front of the sticks: at the wicket, batting.
| 1840 J. C. W. in Sporting Mag. Aug. 333 (Cricketing Extraordinary) New stumps are wanted to the number of six, So, good Mr. Charon, pray lend us the sticks! 1862 Baily's Mag. Oct. 200 They were..ten hours between the sticks—averaging 1 hour at the wicket, and 50 runs per man. 1882 Daily Tel. 19 May, Having added a couple [of runs], his sticks were disturbed by Palmer. 1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 28 Apr. 11/2 It was curious to see Blackham anywhere in the field except behind the sticks. 1892 Ibid. 2 July 6/2 Jackson played across at a delivery..and had his stick disturbed. 1924 Lawrence & Skinner Boy in Bush ii. 22, I was captain of the first football eleven... And not bad in front of the sticks. |
d. pl. The staves used for throwing in the game of Aunt Sally; also used for the game itself.
| 184. D. Jerrold Men of Char. (1851) 273 Next, he must have at least a pennyworth of sticks: he may knock down a tobacco-box. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis II. xx. 197 The splendid young dandies who were strolling about the course, and enjoying themselves at the noble diversion of Sticks. |
e. Assoc. Football. Phr.
between the sticks: between the goal-posts, keeping goal.
| 1950 Sport 7–11 Apr. 14/3 Good news for Reading fans is that goalkeeper George Marks is expected to be back between the Elm Park sticks at the start of season 1950–1951. 1976 Wymondham & Attleborough Express 19 Nov. 23/4 Wortwell could not produce the form of recent weeks and crashed heavily to their hosts. David Loome took over between the ‘sticks’. |
6. A timber-tree, also a tree-trunk when cut for timber; more fully
stick of timber.
Cf. sense 3.
| 1748 Anson's Voy. i. v. 54 The Carpenters were sent into the woods, to endeavour to find a stick proper for a fore⁓mast. 1866 Treas. Bot. 220/2 [Carapa guianensis] Its timber..is obtainable in sticks, fifty feet long by fifteen inches square. 1878 Jefferies Gamekeeper at Home 38 The edge of a fir plantation where lies a fallen ‘stick’ of timber. |
7. Naut. A mast or portion of a mast; also a yard.
the sticks, the masts and yards.
to up stick(s (
slang), to set up a boat's mast; also
fig. (
usu. in form
up sticks), to prepare to move, pack up, get going; to pack up and go, remove oneself.
| 1802 Naval Chron. VIII. 517 She has not a stick standing. 1819 Byron Juan ii. xxxix, But with a leak, and not a stick of mast, Nor rag of canvas, what could they expect? 1833 Marryat P. Simple xlvi, A raking broadside..brought the sticks about their ears. 1839 Knickerbocker XIV. 141 Why, in the name of common sense, do you not up sticks and off? 1845 J. Coulter Adv. Pacific vii. 88 So we ‘up stick’, that is, shipped our mast, made sail, and..brought our..whale alongside the ship. 1854 [see up adv.1 31]. 1859 D. Bunce Trav. with Dr. Leichhardt ix. 141 The place was so muddy as to render it necessary to ‘up sticks!’ and start for another..camping ground. c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 76 Topsail yards..are made in one stick. 1877 Harper's Mag. Jan. 213/2 If any man tries hard words with me, I knocks him down, up sticks, and makes tracks. 1888 Clark Russell Death Ship I. 286 To have nothing to do with her or me, but to bear a hand and ‘up sticks’. 1893 H. M. Doughty Wherry in Wendish Lands 76 We could see the mast, a very strong stick, whip with the weight. 1920 C. A. W. Monckton Some Experiences of New Guinea Resident Magistrate xxii. 262 Up sticks and away for Port Moresby and Sir Francis Winter. 1958 P. Scott Mark of Warrior ii. 168, 0700 we up sticks here and get well under cover a mile into the jungle. 1967 Economist 21 Oct. 306/1 If businesses can up-sticks from Quebec.., they are being tempted to do so. 1972 G. Green Great Moments in Sport: Soccer i. 28 Neil Franklin..upped sticks..and departed to Bogotá. 1978 Guardian Weekly 26 Mar. 21/2 What on earth impels a man..suddenly to up sticks at 84 and come back to this distressful country? |
II. Transferred uses.
8. A piece of material rolled, moulded, or cut for convenience of use into a long and slender form like that of a stick:
a. of rolled cinnamon bark;
b. of sweetstuff;
c. of glass;
d. of lac or sealing-wax;
e. of bread,
esp. as
French stick;
cf. baton n. 1 c,
bread-stick s.v. bread n. 10,
grissino;
f. of various other substances (see
quots.).
| a. a 1460 [see cinnamon 1]. 1594 Gd. Huswife's Handmaid Kitchin 3 b, A litle sticke of Sinamon. 1615 Markham Eng. Housew. 73 To make most Artificiall Cinamon stickes. a 1777 in Jrnl. Friends' Hist. Soc. (1914) Oct. 188 Put in a stick of Cinnamon. |
| b. 1611 [see liquorice]. 1862 Thackeray Philip xxviii, She bought pink sticks of barley-sugar for the young ones. 1913 Little Bk. Confect. 39 Cocoa Sticks... Cut into three inch sticks and bake. |
| c. 1683 Digby's Chym. Secrets 19 Stir the Matter well with a stick of Glass. 1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 348/2 A young girl sits by a jet of flame, holding in her hand a stick of prepared glass. |
| d. 1662 J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 27 The Indians give it [lacque] what colour they please, black, red, green, yellow, &c. And make it into sticks to seal Letters withall. 1746 Phil. Trans. XLIV. 28 A Stick of the best black Sealing-wax. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1097 In forming the round sticks of sealing-wax..[the pieces are] rolled out upon a warm marble slab... The oval sticks..are cast in moulds. |
| e. 1909 [see bread-stick s.v. bread n. 10]. 1943 A. L. Simon Conc. Encycl. Gastron. IV. 59/2 (heading) Grissini or salt sticks. 1959 Times 9 Mar. (Britain's Food Suppl.) p. xii/5 Her French sister who shops three times a day for her French sticks in order to get them really fresh. 1962 Woman 8 Dec. 51/3 A stick of French bread. 1972 House & Garden Feb. 98/2 Swiss fondue... Seasame seed sticks..make a happy accompaniment. 1980 Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 20 Jan. 57/3 French stick, long thin load with thick golden crust. |
| f. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Lycium, The Dutch..form it into twisted sticks, which they sell to the painters in water colours. 1836 J. F. Davis Chinese II. 135 The extreme carelessness with which burning paper and lighted sticks of incense are left about their combustible dwellings. 1844 Fownes Chem. 131 A stick of phosphorus held in the air always appears to emit a whitish smoke. 1848 Ronalds & Richardson Knapp's Chem. Technol. I. 224 Producing consecutively..flowers of sulphur..and sticks of sulphur. 1862 Miller Elem. Chem., Org. 671 Sticks of potash. 1882 Christy Joints 184 A stick of the metal [solder] must be fused at the same time and allowed to drop upon them. 1884 Britten Watch & Clockm. 86 Dissolve a stick of nitrate of silver in..water. 1891 Pall Mall Gaz. 21 Dec. 1/3 ‘It is a kind of grease that we keep in sticks.’ (Aside, to an attendant: ‘Just go and get a stick of paint.’) |
9. The stem of a culinary plant when trimmed for use,
e.g. a root-stem of horse-radish; a root of celery with its blanched leaf-stems; a leaf-stem of rhubarb; a young shoot of asparagus.
| a 1756 E. Haywood New Present (1771) 53 A stick of horse-radish. 1872 Calverley Fly Leaves (1903) 14 To watch bronzed men and maidens crunch The sounding celery-stick. 1877 S. Hibberd Amateur's Kitchen Gard. 159 A plentiful supply of early sticks [of rhubarb]. 1882 W. Early Profit. Market Gard. 95 A bundle of celery, from eight to sixteen sticks. 1884 Sutton's Culture Veget. & Fl. (1885) 8 [Asparagus.] It is a matter of management merely, whether the sticks be blanched to the very tip, or [etc.]. |
10. Applied to various implements, either of the shape of a stick, or serving purposes for which a stick was originally used.
† a. A spoon.
Obs.| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 4 Nim ðry sticcan fulle on niht nihstiᵹ. a 1225 Ancr. R. 370 Þe on ber ase þauh hit were a letuarie, þe oðer ber enne sticke of gode gold. Vre Lefdi nome mid te sticke & dude iðe ones muðe þerof. |
† b. A utensil for sprinkling holy water; more fully
holy water stick.
= aspergillum.
| 1415, 1552 [see holy water 2]. c 1450 Reg. Vestments etc. St. Andrews in Maitl. Club Misc. III. 203 Item ane haly wattyr fat of siluer with ane stik of the same for solemnit festis. 1543 Invent. R. Wardr. Scot. (1815) 112 Item ane halie watter fate with the stik of silver. |
c. A support for a candle, a candlestick.
| c 1540 in Trans. Lond. & M'sex Archæol. Soc. IV. 372 One styke of syluer p'sell gilt for the holy candell. 1832 Disraeli Cont. Fleming I. xii. 118 Many tall white candles, in golden sticks, illuminated the sacred table. 1895 Church Q. Rev. Apr. 253 The candles standing straight in their sticks. |
d. = composing-stick: see
composing vbl. n. 2.
stick of letter(s, a stickful of type. Also, in
Journalism, a measure of copy, corresponding to about two column-inches.
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xx. ¶3 The Face of a Stick of Letter. Ibid., The whole Stick of Letters..are screwzed together. Ibid. xxii. 332 With a Riglet fitted to the Stick, he presses the Letter to keep it straight in Line. 1820 T. Hodgson Ess. Stereotype Printing 106 note, All types have one or more nicks in their body, to serve as a guide to the compositor when arranging them in his stick. 1898 Scribner's Mag. May 579/1 He talked amiably enough; he said nothing he ought not to have said, but Linton [sc. a reporter] got five sticks out of it (a half column). 1907 Scott. Typogr. Circular Feb. 215/2, I find that nowadays, unless I read my sticks, it is impossible [etc.]. 1932 G. Greene Stamboul Train ii. i. 44 They've asked me for a quarter of a column, but they'll cut it down to a couple of sticks. 1966 ― in New Statesman 25 Feb. 254/1 The ceremony could not possibly rate more than a couple of sticks in tomorrow's paper. |
e. The hammer or mallet with which a dulcimer or drum is struck. Hence
pl., a nickname for a drummer (
Naval slang).
| 1538 Elyot Dict., Pecten.., it is also the stickes wherewith a man stryketh doulcemers whan he doeth playe on them. 1589– [see drumstick]. 1926 Melody Maker Sept. 56 The tambourine is..played with the sticks. 1933 Metronome Oct. 51/2 Playing with the sticks widely separated on the head of the snare drum is a common fault. 1977 Gay News 24 Mar. 32/3 Drummer Rat Scabies (also 19) is very fast with the sticks. |
| 1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 234/1 Sticks,..drummer. 1916 ‘Taffrail’ Carry On 27 A drummer goes by the name of sticks, from the implements with which he beats his drum. 1950 Kerr & James Wavy Navy 263 Sticks, the ship's drummer. |
f. A violin bow, a fiddlestick.
† a stick of fiddles: ? a fiddler.
| a 1600 T. Preston Cambyses F 1 b, They be at hand sir with sticke and fiddle. a 1625 Fletcher Woman's Prize ii. vi, Jaq. They have got a stick of Fiddles, and they firke it In wondrous waies. 1667 H. More Div. Dial. ii. xviii. (1713) 145 As in a Musical Instrument, whose Strings are good, and the Stick good. |
g. The melody pipe of a Highland bagpipe
= chanter1 5.
| 1861 Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 167/2 My old chanter has..lost its tone; for when a stick gets too sharp a sound, it's never any good. Ibid., My great grandfather played on this stick when Charley Stuart..came over to Scotland. |
h. pl. The thin pieces of ivory, bone or other material upon which the folding material of a fan is mounted.
| 1701 Lond. Gaz. No. 3704/4 Lost.., an Italian Fan with Ivory painted Sticks. 1760–2 Goldsm. Cit. W. xli, That old woman..who sits groaning behind the long sticks of a mourning fan. 1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 28/1 The sticks [18th c.] were made of mother-of-pearl or ivory, carved with extraordinary skill. |
i. = joy-stick s.v. joy n. 10. Also
occas., a gear lever in a motor vehicle.
| 1914 H. Rosher Let. 11 Aug. in In R.N.A.S. (1916) 13 Mr. Strutt, our instructor.., controls the engine switch and covers your hand on the stick. 1927 C. A. Lindbergh We v. 76 Pulling the stick back to go up. 1929 Daily Express 7 Nov. 1/1 On two occasions the pilot had to pull his stick back sharply, and once we only just cleared the tree tops. 1948 W. Fortescue Beauty for Ashes xxvii. 210 From their demeanour and that of the pilot, who handed ‘the stick’ over to a friend while he came to see that I was comfortable, one might almost have thought that this was my own private bomber. 1971 R. Dentry Encounter at Kharmel iii. 42 Pepper threw the gear stick into neutral, applied the handbrake firmly, switched off... She..moved the stick back to first. 1977 R.A.F. Yearbk. 31/1 The Hawk is very docile in the stall and..control is immediately regained once the stick is moved forward. |
j. The propeller of an aircraft (
rare).
dead stick: see
dead a. D. 2.
| 1917 Editor 21 Apr. 358 The propeller itself is generally known as the ‘prop’ or ‘stick’. |
k. = ski stick s.v. ski n. 2 b.
| 1961 Webster, Stick rider, a skier who makes excessive use of ski poles. 1963 Amer. Speech XXXVIII. 207 Sticks,... Slang for skis, and also for ski poles. 1972 ‘M. Yorke’ Silent Witness ii. 14 He stacked his skis and sticks in..the rack. 1977 C. Wood James Bond, Spy who loved Me ii. 15 He stamped hard into his skis..and stabbed at the snow with his sticks. |
l. Surfing. A surfboard.
| 1967 J. Severson Great Surfing Gloss., Stick, a surfboard. 1967 Internat. Surfing III. iii. 29 Because of the lack of length when changing to a shorter board, different techniques from surfing a longer board are required. Margo Godfrey and Mike Purpus offer some helpful advice on adjusting to the short stick. |
11. slang. a. A pistol; more explicitly
shooting stick.
| 1788 Grose Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 2), Sticks, pops or pistols. Stow your sticks; hide your pistols. 1834 Ainsworth Rookwood iii. v, See how he flashes his sticks. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right xvi, I always carry a brace of ‘shooting sticks’. |
† b. A sermon.
Obs. rare.
| 1759 T. Boucher Let. J. James 7 Aug. (MS.), What matter of a new stick, vamp them one for next Sunday. 1762 Ibid. 5 Aug. (MS.), At sea, I drew up I believe ½ a dozen sticks—originals. |
c. Thieves' slang. A jemmy or crowbar.
| 1879 Macmillan's Mag. Oct. 503/1 ‘What tools will you want?’.. He said, ‘We shall want some twirls and the stick (crowbar)’. 1887 Horsley Jottings fr. Jail 11 We shall want some twirls and the stick (crowbar). 1890 Daily News 14 July 2/8 [He] took from his inside coat pocket a powerful jemmy, saying ‘I suppose you don't want my stick.’ 1934 P. Savage Savage of Scotland Yard xxiii. 252 It's a fair cop. I'll go quiet, and here's my stick (jemmy). 1960 [see loid]. |
d. pl. Furniture, household goods; more fully
sticks of furniture. Rarely
sing. in
every stick, every article of furniture (
cf. 3 b).
| 1809 Malkin Gil Blas vii. vii. (Rtldg.) 11 The moveables, not excepting my own apparel, every stick and every thread, had been carried off. 1823 ‘Jon Bee’ Dict. Turf s.v., I lost all my sticks by that 'ere fire at Stepney. 1864 Blackmore Clara Vaughan xxvi. (1872) 84 Her strange biographies of every table, chair, and cushion—her ‘sticks’, as she delighted to call them. 1867 All Year Round 13 July 55/1 The breaking up of the home, [and] the selling of ‘the few sticks of furniture’. |
e. pl. Legs.
| 1830 Marryat King's Own xxvi, He was so weak that he couldn't get up on his sticks again. |
f. (Now
U.S. and
Colonial.)
with a stick in it: said of tea, coffee, etc., with a dash of brandy.
| 1804 R. Anderson Cumbld. Ball. (1808) 175 A quart o' het yell, and a stick in't. 1890 Mrs. C. Praed Rom. of Station vi, Have a parting drink for good luck—coffee, if you like, with a ‘stick’ in it... The waiter brought in coffee and cognac. 1892 F. M. Crawford Three Fates xiv, But you really do look dreadfully. Have some tea—with a stick in it, as papa calls it. |
g. the sticks: a remote, thinly populated, rural area; the backwoods; hence, in extended (
freq. depreciatory) use, any area that is off the beaten track or thought to be provincial or unsophisticated;
esp. in
phr. in the sticks.
orig. U.S.| 1905 N. Davis Northerner 78 Billy is a cane-brake nigger; he'll take to the sticks like a duck to water when he's scared. 1914 R. Lardner in Sat. Even. Post 7 Mar. 8/1, I will have to slip you back to the sticks [i.e. the minor baseball leagues]. 1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 22 Oct. 11/3 Judge Landis..has not yet consigned Babe Ruth to oblivion for..playing in the sticks for exhibition money. 1926 Whiteman & McBride Jazz xiii. 254 They had..all the real New Yorker's prejudice against ‘the sticks’. 1936 J. Dos Passos Big Money 61 Mighty nice of you to ask me. I been out in the sticks... It makes you feel good to see folks from the other side... This is the nearest thing to Paree I've seen for some time. 1941 W. C. Handy Father of Blues (1957) ix. 126, I continued..playing for dances, touring on the road and through the sticks and giving concerts. 1958 C. Koch Boys in Island 101 What can y' expect, way out here in the sticks? You would pick on a dame from back of beyond. 1968 J. Lock Lady Policeman ix. 79 Where's that? I know, it's somewhere in the sticks. 1971 N.Z. Listener 27 Sept. 3/2 The ‘real’ New Zealand..is out there in the sticks, under the open sky, where men have dirt on their elbows. 1974 New Society 7 Feb. 309/1 The idea of ‘provincial’ journalists working ‘out in the sticks’ has strong pejorative overtones. 1977 Daily Express 29 Jan. 39/2 More fighting talk came from Swindon striker Dave Syrett. ‘Most people regard us as a bunch of farmers from out in the sticks,’ he said. |
h. A cigarette or cigar;
spec., a cigarette made with marijuana; also
stick of tea,
weed (
cf. tea n. 7 c,
weed n.1 3 c). See also
cancer stick s.v. cancer n. 5,
Thai stick s.v. Thai a.
| 1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dialects 17 Consumption stick, a cigarette. 1935 E. Farjeon Nursery in Nineties 348 Papa..smokes all day long, but only affords himself the cheapest..sticks, except when Aunt Mary Albery sends him a hundred Coronas for Christmas. 1938 [see Mary 1 d]. 1940 R. Chandler Farewell, my Lovely xiv. 68 Evidence of what? That a man occasionally smoked a stick of tea, a man who looked as if any touch of the exotic would appeal to him. 1957 C. MacInnes City of Spades i. v. 28 ‘I'll roll you a stick.’.. I lit up... ‘Good stuff. And what do they make you pay for a stick here?’ 1959 L. Lipton Holy Barbarians iii. 78 Rolling their sticks of ‘tea’, they looked like a ring of kindergarteners. 1965 W. Soyinka Road 24 Say Tokyo reaches out a stick of weed to him which he accepts behind his back. 1978 T. Williamson Technicians of Death xiv. 121 He got his first ‘buzz’ with a blend of Thai stick and opium. |
12. a. Applied, with qualifying
adj., to a person,
orig. with figurative notion of sense 2 or 4, as
tough stick;
crooked (Sc. thrawn) stick, a perverse, cross-grained person.
| 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin ii. 164 That tough stick of Wood, Boirude the Sexton. 1785 Span. Rivals 8 He's a queer stick to make a thivel on. 1833 Hood Publ. Dinner 15 A stick of a Chairman, A little dark spare man. 1839 A. Gray Lett. (1893) 223 He is a queer stick altogether. 1846–8 Lowell Biglow P. Ser. i. ix. 35 So, ez I aint a crooked stick,..I'll go back to my plough. 1859 Hotten's Slang Dict. 102 ‘A rum’ or ‘odd stick’, a curious man. 1886 J. R. Rees Pleas. Book-Worm v. 178 Some disagreeable old stick has probably eaten an enormous dinner [etc.]. 1893 Crockett Stickit Minister 30 Tammas Carlyle, thrawn stick as he was. 1897 W. Dyke Craiktrees ii, He's nobbit twenty-two—young—a verra young stick. |
b. A ‘wooden’ person; one lacking in capacity for his work, or in geniality of manner;
Theatr. an indifferent actor.
| 1800 M. Edgeworth Belinda xx, And you, out of patience,..will go and marry..some stick of a rival. 1801 W. Burton Pasquinade 11 He's not a bad actor, though they call him a stick. 1820 Byron Blues i. 89 Tracy. In Prose My talent is decent, as far as it goes; But in rhyme―. Inkel. You're a terrible stick, to be sure. 1820 L. Hunt Indicator No. 33 (1822) I. 257 A habit..of calling insipid things and persons sticks... A poor stick, a mere stick, a stick of a fellow. 1856 Olmsted Slave States 83 He had had to hire white men to help him, but they were poor sticks and would be half the time drunk. 1873 Punch 15 Nov. 202/1 Charles Kemble was rather a stick at first, and was made a great artist by..close study. 1883 M. Pattison Mem. i. (1885) 23 Though the tutors..were first class men, yet the tuition was not esteemed good... Tommy Churton I afterwards came to know as a ‘stick’. 1899 C. Kernahan Scoundrels & Co. xxi, To a good fellow, the right hand of fellowship is readily extended. The ‘stick’ will find himself as readily cold-shouldered. |
c. U.S. slang. = shill n.| 1926 Maines & Grant Wise-Crack Dict. 14/1 Stick, a confederate who wins or loses at dealer's will. 1931 G. Irwin Amer. Tramp & Underworld Slang 182 The cash the ‘stick’ wins is handed back to the operator of the game..and the stick never has enough of his employer's money to make it worth his while to decamp. 1966 E. V. Cunningham Helen (1967) ix. 129 A shill is also called a stick, and the role of the shill or stick is to make the customer relax and feel at ease. |
† 13. Some measure of land: ?
= staff n.| 1664 Terrier of Westborne, Sussex (MS.), One other Plott..which James Sowter renteth of him..conteyneth about half a Stick of Land. Item one other Plott of Land..conteyneth about a quarter of a Stick of ground. |
14. Mil. a. A number (
usu. five or six) of bombs dropped in quick succession from an aircraft.
| 1940 Illustr. London News 18 May 669 (caption) A ‘stick’ of five bombs has just burst across her bows. 1940 Times 6 Dec. 4/1 Seeing a convoy in the road, we dropped a stick plumb in the centre of it. 1942 Tee Emm (Air Ministry) II. 100 If you, as bomb aimer..watch a stick of bombs on a town you'll notice that they appear to move outwards... When they hit they form a curved stick. 1956 W. Slim Defeat into Victory vi. xxi. 500 British officers, watching from the ground the fall of each stick of bombs. 1975 T. Allbeury Special Collection iv. 18 There were dull thuds as another stick of bombs was dropped. |
b. A group of parachutists jumping in quick succession.
| 1943 Combined Operations (Min. of Information) ii. 19 They [sc. airborne troops] practise dropping from an aircraft, first in ‘slow’ then in ‘quick’ pairs, until they are proficient enough to drop in ‘sticks’. 1949 F. Maclean Eastern Approaches iii. ix. 414, I had decided to jump first with the others following in a ‘stick’. 1955 J. Thomas No Banners xiv. 127 The despatcher yelled hysterically: ‘Now, a nice stick of three!’ 1974 C. Ryan Bridge Too Far iii. iii. 156 As the pilot held it steady on course, Mitchell saw the entire stick of paratroopers jump right through the fire. 1982 Times 5 June 4/6 The 15 marines in our ‘stick’ jumped through the [helicopter] door..with weapons ready. |
III. 15. Figurative phrases of various origins. (Chiefly slang or colloquial.)
a. to play a good stick: said of a fiddler (see sense 10). In later use
gen. to play one's part well. So
to fire a good stick (Shooting).
| 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. ix, You hear he plays a good stick. 1809 T. Donaldson Poems 183 He handl'd his Rammy so terribly quick The folks all declar'd that ‘he play'd a good stick’. 1824 W. Irving Tales Trav., Bold Dragoon (1848) 25 He could swear a good stick himself. 1842 Bellew Mem. Griffin xx, The captain..fired a capital good stick nevertheless, and knocked the birds about, right and left, in great style. 1867 E. Waugh Tufts of Heather Ser. i. (1893) 188 The hungry travellers sat down. For about half-an-hour every man of the three ‘played a good stick’, as the old saying goes. |
† b. Slang.
to be high up the stick: to stand high in one's profession.
| 1818 Sir C. Morgan in Lady Morgan Autobiog. (1859) 295 All my acquaintance among the doctors are so high up the stick, they have no time to spare to answer inquiries. |
c. to beat (rarely knock) all to sticks, to overcome or surpass completely.
to go to sticks, more emphatically
to go to sticks and staves, to be ruined.
| 1820 Blackw. Mag. VIII. 85 Which in the west country beats our stot-beef here all to sticks. 1824 S. E. Ferrier Inherit. ix, She married a Highland drover, or tacksman, I can't tell which, and they went all to sticks and staves. 1840 Thackeray Barber Cox Apr., When I came to know his game, I used to knock him all to sticks; or, at least, win six games to his four. c 1842 Carlyle in A. Bain Autobiog. (1904) 126 All that I could gather was that the Church of Christ was going to sticks. 1859 Lever Dav. Dunn lxxvi. 669 It's as good as a play to hear about this,..it beats Newmarket all to sticks. |
d. Sporting slang.
to shoot for the stick,
i.e. for the total amount of game shot as distinguished from ‘for sport’. (
Cf. 1 b.)
| 1834 New Monthly Mag. XLI. 288 In a battue..the shooting is for the stick, as it is technically phrased—not for the pleasure, but the pride of the murderer of hecatombs. |
e. (to have or get) the right or the wrong end of the stick: to have the advantage or the contrary in a bargain or a contest. Also,
to have got hold of the wrong end of the stick: to have got a story wrong, not know the facts of the case. Also with other adjectives. (Sense 4.)
| 1846 Swell's Night Guide 49 Which of us had hold of the crappy..end of the stick? 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 249 If you happen to have the arrangement of a bargain..with the rural Australian, you will rarely find that the apparently impassive countryman has ‘got the wrong end of the stick’. 1897 W. Beatty Secretar xiii. 100, I was more convinced than ever..that I had the right end of the stick. 1930 E. Waugh Vile Bodies viii. 143 My private schoolmaster used to say, ‘If a thing's worth doing at all, it's worth doing well.’.. But these young people have got hold of another end of the stick, and for all we know it may be the right one. They say, ‘If a thing's not worth doing well, it's not worth doing at all.’ 1934 C. Day Lewis Hope for Poetry vii. 42 Although Lewis's analysis convinces us..as being correct in detail, we are compelled to feel that Lawrence rather than Lewis had got hold of the right end of the stick. 1939 ‘G. Orwell’ Coming up for Air iv. vii. 283 Listen, Hilda. You've got hold of the wrong end of the stick about this business. 1959 ‘M. Cronin’ Dead & done With iv. 61 I've had the rough end of the stick ever since I got here. 1977 P. Scott Staying On (1978) i. 14 Always..I have the mucky end of the stick. But then I am only part of the fixtures and fittings. |
f. to hold the sticks to,
to hold sticks with: to compete on equal terms with.
| a 1817 W. Muir Poems (1818) 58 (E.D.D.) Nae kitten, fam'd for fun an' tricks, Can to the weasel ha'd the sticks. 1853 Reade Love me Little I. viii. 232 If I began by despising my business..how should I ever hold sticks with my able competitors? |
g. to keep (one) at the stick's end: to keep at a distance, treat with reserve.
| 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped viii, The captain, though he kept me at the stick's end the most part of the time, would sometimes unbuckle a bit and tell me of the fine countries he had visited. |
h. Used to give additional emphasis in several alliterative phrases, as
stick, stark, staring = absolutely, completely, downright.
Cf. 3 c.
| 1839 Hood Lost Heir 23, I shall go stick stark staring wild! 1892 Mrs. H. Ward David Grieve i. iv, Aunt Hannah 'll be stick stock mad wi' boath on us. 1909 W. J. Locke Septimus 330 Now he had gone stick, stark, staring, raving, biting mad. |
i. up the stick: pregnant.
slang. Cf. up the pole s.v. pole n.1 1 b.
| 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 71 Stick, up the: (of a girl or woman) to be pregnant. 1958 [see bun n.2 1]. 1968 R. Lait Chance to Kill i. 10 Mary up the stick; funny how everyone counts the months. 1976 J. I. M. Stewart Memorial Service ix. 160 Do you know what it's like, Cyril, to be a decent and penniless young man who isn't sure he hasn't got his girl up the stick? |
j. to cut one's stick: see
cut v. 44;
more than you can shake a stick at: see
shake v. 5 b.
IV. attrib. and
Comb. 16. a. simple
attrib., as
stick fire,
stick point; (sense 8) as
stick cinnamon,
stick liquorice,
stick metal,
stick phosphorus,
stick pomatum,
stick rhubarb; (sense 10)
stick microphone,
stick mike;
b. objective, as
stick-cutting,
stick-rubbing;
stick-dresser,
stick-maker; instrumental, as
stick-blow;
stick-built adj.; similative, as
stick-like,
stick-shaped adjs.| 1886 R. F. Burton Arab. Nts. I. 242 note, They..cut off the ear-lobes, gave ten *stick-blows. |
| 1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 148/2 The *stick-built nest contains four..eggs. |
| 1668 G. Hartman Digby's Receipts Physick etc. 15, 5 pennyworth of *stick Cinnamon. |
| 1883 F. M. Peard Contradictions xviii, Leaving Gina to watch the progress of Jim's *stick-cutting. |
| 1890 Daily News 22 Oct. 7/7 A *stick-dresser was committed for trial on a charge of wounding [etc.]. |
| 1808 E. Sleath Bristol Heiress IV. 12 Dame Jenkinson was sitting by the blaze of a *stick fire. |
| 1831 E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son III. 292 A stoical apathy of look, that..the most *stick-like lords..would have envied. |
| 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) Post. Groans No. 29 Some long-forgotten bonbon of your boyhood..*stick-liquorice,..&c. |
| 1803 Censor 1 Apr. 39 Mr. Huntsmill, the *stick maker of Whitechapel. |
| 1900 Hasluck Model! Engin. Handybk. 67 This nut is best turned from a piece of *stick metal. |
| 1961 C. Willock Death in Covert xii. 212 The interviewer from ITN..was holding a *stick microphone. 1976 B. Jackson Flameout (1977) iv. xii. 204 He saw him [sc. the pilot] speak into the stick microphone attached to his headset. |
| 1961 Listener 19 Oct. 622/3 Uncle Dimbleby is seated (with *stick mike) among a ‘representative cross-section’ of the British public. |
| 1849 D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. 21 The sixth part of an inch of *stick phosphorus. |
| 1905 A. T. Sheppard Red Cravat ii. ii. 60 Tossing the clothes to one side of the room with her *stick-point. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Bandoline, a kind of *stick pomatum. |
| 1840 Pereira Mat. Med. 814 *Stick rhubarb..is said..to be obtained from Rheum undulatum. 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 451/1 Stick rhubarb is sold in the herb shops, and is in long pieces. |
| 1912 Contemp. Rev. June 900 Fire was obtained by *stick-rubbing. |
| 1857 Henfrey Bot. 586 A kind of minute *stick-shaped corpuscle. |
17. Special comb.:
stick-and-carrot adj. phr. [see
carrot n. 2 a], characterized by both the threat of punishment and the offer of reward;
stick-back a., designating a kind of wooden chair having a back formed by upright rods or sticks;
stickball U.S., a game played with stick and ball;
spec. (
a) improvised baseball played with a stick and soft ball; (
b) an American Indian ball game resembling lacrosse, played by the Indians of the South-eastern
U.S.;
stick bean, a runner bean;
stick-bomb, a bomb or grenade with a protruding rod or stick for firing or throwing (
cf. also
stick v.
1 35);
stick-bug U.S. (
a)
= stick-insect; (
b) a predaceous reduvioid bug,
Emesa longipes (
Cent. Dict. 1891);
stick-caterpillar, a larva resembling a stick;
stick chair, a sedan chair;
stick chimney U.S., a log-house chimney composed of sticks piled up crosswise and cemented with mud or clay;
stick-cover,
-covert (see
quot. 1854);
stick-dam (see
quot.);
stick dance, any of various kinds of folk-dance in which the dancer holds a stick and (in some dances) beats it against the sticks of other dancers;
stick-dressing, the art of making shepherd's crooks (
cf. stick-dresser, sense 16 b);
stick-fighting W. Indies, a kind of martial art; hence
stick-fighter;
stick-figure, a matchstick figure (see
matchstick (c)
s.v. match n.2 5), a pin-man;
stick fixed Aeronaut., the control column of an air-craft held in one position;
freq. attrib.;
stick-flour (see
quot.);
stick force Aeronaut., the force or effort needed to move the control column of an aircraft or hold it in position;
stick free Aeronaut., the control column of an aircraft allowed to move freely, unguided by the pilot;
freq. attrib.;
stick (hand-)grenade, a grenade with a handle;
stick-handling vbl. n. orig. and chiefly
N. Amer., the handling of one's stick in ice hockey (or
occas. in other sports) (
cf. stick-work (a)); also
fig.; hence (as back-formation)
stick-handle v. intr., to control the puck (in ice hockey) with one's stick; also
stick-handler;
stick-heap, an artificial fox-covert made of sticks (
cf. stick-cover);
stick-helmet, a mask with additional guards for the forehead and head, used in cudgel-play (
Cent. Dict.);
stick holder (see
quot.);
Stick Indian Canad. colloq., a member of the North American Indian peoples inhabiting the forests of British Columbia and the Yukon [properly a loan
transl. of Chinook Jargon
stick siwash forest Indian, a term used by the Coast Indians for those of the interior in this area.];
stick-insect, any insect of the family
Phasmidæ, from its resemblance to the branches and twigs of the trees in which it is found;
stick loaf:
occas. used
= French stick, sense 8 f above;
stick-man, (
a)
slang, a pick-pocket's accomplice (
cf. stick slinger); (
b)
U.S. colloq., a croupier; (
c)
W. Indies = stick-fighter above; (
d)
rare = stick-figure above;
stick mounter, a workman employed to affix the mounts of walking-sticks;
stick-net, a small net run upon a ring fixed at the end of a stick;
stick-pile † (
a)
= heron's bill; (
b)
= stick-heap;
stick-play, play with cudgel or single-stick; so also
stick-player;
stick-pot U.S., a lobster-pot constructed of laths or narrow strips of wood;
stick-shaker Aeronaut. colloq., a device which causes the control column to vibrate when the aircraft is close to stalling;
stick shift N. Amer., a manually operated mechanism for changing gear; a gear lever;
stick-sling, a sling in the form of a stick with a cleft at one end in which the stone to be thrown was placed;
stick slinger slang (see
quot.);
sticktail U.S. (
Long Island), the ruddy duck
Erismatura rubida, characterized by having narrow and rigid tailfeathers;
stickwork, (
a) in various ball games, the management of the bat or club; (
b) something made from, or fashioned by the use of, sticks. Also
sticklac.
| 1963 Times 4 Mar. 11/7 President Ayub has..given himself *stick-and-carrot powers to deal with the ‘Ebdonians’. 1977 ‘J. le Carré’ Hon. Schoolboy vi. 136 It's a stick and carrot job. If you don't play, the comic will blow the whistle on you... That's the bad news... The good news is five hundred US into your hot little hand. |
| 1783 Narrangansett Hist. Reg. (1884) II. 314 Three good large Windsor or *Stickback Chairs. 1923 Heal & Son Catal: Kitchen Furniture 2 Unpolished Stickback Windsor Small Chair..12/6. 1963 Guardian 21 Aug. 6/6 A pale oak gate-leg table is set off by six flame stick-back chairs. 1978 Cornish Guardian 27 Apr. 10/4 (Advt.), Swivel chairs,..wheel back and stick back chairs, easy chairs[, etc.]. |
| 1824 Nantucket Inquirer 12 Jan. 3/5 No person shall play Foot-ball or Poke, *Stick-ball or Swinger, within the compact part of the Town of Nantucket. 1934 E. Newhouse You can't sleep Here xii. 154 Two contending stickball teams left the gutter to see what was up. 1946 Life 11 Nov. 91/1 On the Cherokees' Qualla Indian Reservation in North Carolina..the Wolftown Wolves met the Wolftown Bears in a crucial game of stickball... The game of stickball, which is a primitive version of modern lacrosse, was centuries old when De Soto led a Spanish expedition through Cherokee territory in 1540. 1947 Commentary May 464/1 Sometimes we became so engrossed by a punchball or stickball game that night would fall without anyone's being aware of it. 1953 Sun (Baltimore) 1 Apr. (B. ed.) 12/1 Governor McKeldin can remember romping barefooted in the neighborhood, playing stickball. 1979 United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 533 A recreation of an early-18th-century Cherokee Village, where Cherokees in costume dance, play at stickball, work at crafting baskets, [etc.]. 1981 TV Picture Life Mar. 32/1 A group of young black children playing stickball on the streets of New York. |
| 1906 Dialect Notes III. 158 *Stick bean,..pole bean. 1980 J. Gardam Sidmouth Lett. 134 D'you want some beans?.. Stick beans? |
| 1916 in C. F. S. Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station (1928) xiii. 222 The silent firing of projectiles varying in size from the Mills grenade to the 250-lb. *stick bomb. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 270 Stick-bomb, a type of trench-mortar bomb attached to a hollow steel rod which passed down the bore of the projectile. 1940 Illustr. London News 10 Feb. 167/1 A charge with ‘stick-bombs’—a form of hand grenade. Ibid. 167/2 (caption) The patrol reaches the enemy lines, overwhelming them with the threat of ‘stick-bombs’. |
| 1894 Harper's Mag. Feb. 456 ‘Witches' horses,’..which in some other States are dubbed ‘*stick-bugs’.., our Diapheromera femorata. |
| 1898 Morris Austral Eng. 349 The various species [of the family Phasmidæ] are known as Leaf-insects, Walking-leaves, *Stick-caterpillars [etc.]. |
| 1908 M. Johnston Lewis Rand i. 11 Coach and chaise, curricle and *stick⁓chair, were encountered. |
| 1846 Mrs. Kirkland West. Clearings 7 The house was..of the roughest;..its *stick chimney, so like its owner's hat, open at the top, and jammed in at the sides. |
| 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 550/2 (Hunting) *Stick covers and faggot covers [for foxes]. |
| 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., *Stick-covert, a plat of ground stuck with thorns to make a fox-cover. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 550/1 (Hunting) Foxes..found in gorse and stick coverts are often short runners. |
| 1884 Evang. Mag. May 214 The other kind of [beaver's] dam is the ‘*stick-dam’, consisting of sticks and poles. |
| 1899 Kipling From Sea to Sea II. xxv. 12 A Zanzibar *stick-dance, such as you see at Aden on the coal boats. 1907 Sharp & Macilwaine Morris Bk. i. 39 In the Stick and Handkerchief dances, pairs..stand near enough to clap hands or tap sticks with each other. 1950 Blesh & Janis They All played Ragtime (1958) 13 The banjo-ragtime rhythms of dances like the buck and wing, the Virginia Essence, the stick and the sand dances, and the soft-shoe routines. 1982 N. Painting Reluctant Archer vii. 113, I was also roped in..to play the piano for rehearsals of the stick dance which David Raeburn had introduced into his production of The Shoemaker's Holiday. |
| 1968 P. Jennings Living Village 187 *Stick-dressing..is the making of shepherds' crooks. A stick is dressed down, a ram's horn is put on top of it and the whole thing is polished. |
| 1956 Caribbean Q. IV. iii & iv. 194 Later this aristocrat's masque was adopted by batonyé or *stick fighters. 1968 E. Lovelace Schoolmaster i. 12 ‘Who say that?’ Miguel asked hotly, growing angry, and moving up and down like a stickfighter in a rage. |
| 1956 Caribbean Q. IV. iii. & iv. 192 Antagonisms are relaxed from time to time by fêtes, when the traditional pastimes of dancing, singing and *stick-fighting are enjoyed, with liquor and food. 1974 Trinidad Guardian 2 Nov. 5/2 (Advt.), African culture in all forms. Dance, Stick-fighting, Drumming, Calypso, [etc.]. |
| 1965 I. A. Richards in Times Lit. Suppl. 27 May 439/2 A *stick-figure man is very different from any man but is a little like his silhouette or his shadow on a screen. 1976 New Yorker 9 Feb. 94/3 Weiss projects no character, he remains a stick figure. 1978 S. Sheldon Bloodline xxiv. 259 He was like a stick figure drawn by a child, with angular arms and legs, and a dry, unfinished face sketched on top of his body. |
| 1945 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLIX. 617/2 The stick movements the pilot has to make to control the aircraft are related to the *stick fixed stability, while the stick forces he has to exert are related to the stick free stability. 1961 A. W. Babister Aircraft Stability & Control iii. 63 The stick fixed static margin is related to the elevator movement (or stick movement) to trim the aircraft. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Stick-flour, a Brazilian name for cassava meal. |
| 1937 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLI. 960 The *stick forces required to operate them [sc. flaps] increased too rapidly with speed. 1942 Tee Emm (Air Ministry) II. 85 The stick force needed, say, to take violent avoiding action may be much too great. 1961 A. W. Babister Aircraft Stability & Control iii. 63 We shall now derive the relation between the stick force the pilot has to apply to hold the aircraft in a glide and the stick free static margin. 1983 E. Brown Wings of Weird & Wonderful xvi. 100 The latter aircraft was the less pleasant to fly as the stick continually hunted either side of neutral, and there was no build up in stick force with increase in speed. |
| 1945 *Stick free [see stick fixed above]. 1961 Stick free [see stick force above]. |
| 1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 586 *Stick grenade, a grenade attached to a stick and thrown over short distances like a dart. 1979 O. Sela Petrograd Consignment 53 Boris..took out two stick grenades and a Mills bomb. |
| 1929 N.Y. Times 10 Mar. xii. 8/1 Trottier staged a prize play when he *stickhandled his way through the entire American team. 1969 M. Braithwaite Never sleep Three in Bed (1970) xv. 182 Back in 1926, he really couldn't skate very well, but he could stick-handle like a fiend. |
| 1915 Official Ice Hockey Guide 17 Hill of Cornell..is very fast, a good *stick handler. 1958 Rosetown (Saskatchewan) Eagle 29 May 10/1 Dick..Elliot, plugger type, stick handler, back-bone of the team. |
| 1904 Ice Hockey & Ice Polo Guide 35 *Stick-handling, like confidence, coolness, strength and speed, is acquired by practice... The better you can handle your stick the more effective player you will be, because stick-handling is one of the essentials of the game. 1962 Times 28 Feb. 4/4 Cool lacrosse at Cambridge... Cambridge..played calmly, showing glimpses of..skilful stick-handling. 1976 Ottawa Citizen 24 Dec. 2/3 They did some nifty stickhandling through government red tape. |
| 1898 Westm. Gaz. 28 Sept. 4/3 *Stick heaps..when judiciously placed..seldom fail to hold foxes. |
| 1901 E. A. Pratt Notable Masters 44 [Josiah Mason] also did a large business in making cedar-wood pen-holders, or ‘*stick-holders’. |
| [1869 L. Smith Let. 30 Oct. in Rep. Indian Affairs 1969 (U.S.) (1870) 567 Twice a year most of the Indians make a trip up the Stikine River to Talyan, at which place the Stick tribe reside.] 1885 F. Schwatka Rep. Mil. Reconn. Alaska 1883 76 The so-called ‘*Stick’ Indians of the interior are seen in the villages near the trading stores. 1887 G. M. Dawson Notes on Indian Tribes of Yukon 14 They are classed with the ‘Stick Indians’, by the coast tribes. 1963 R. Symons Many Trails vii. 72 Snowshoes are known only as a strange accoutrement of the ‘Stick Indians’. |
| 1854 A. Adams etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 210 *Stick-Insects (Phasmidæ). 1882 Cassell's Nat. Hist. VI. 130 Most of them resemble sticks, either green, growing twigs, or brown and withered branches, and hence the names of Stick-insects and Walking-sticks. |
| 1980 Times 15 Dec. 1/8 Britons returned home with..wines, *stick loaves and under-ripe Camemberts. |
| 1861 J. Binny in H. Mayhew London Labour Extra Vol. (1862) 282/2 While drinking at the bar, one of the women tries to rob him... A man who is called a ‘*stickman’, an accomplice..of hers, comes to the bar... If they have by this time secured the booty, it is passed to the latter, who thereupon slips away. 1931 Amer. Speech VII. 116 Stick-man,..a croupier in a gambling joint. 1952 Evening News (Port of Spain, Trinidad) 28 Jan. 8/2 A Trinidad stickman held his stick at both ends when going into action. 1958 Newark (New Jersey) Star-Ledger 23 Mar. 102/4 Then the stickman rakes in the dice, picks them up, and tosses them back to the shooter. 1966 J. Dos Passos Best Times ii. 47, I sent Arthur a cartoon..of warmongers..hanging from the arc lights on Fifth Avenue, while two stickmen..danced the carmagnole in the foreground. 1975 [see pogue]. 1980 J. Scott Hunted i. 8 He shoved the counters forward and the stickman flicked them into place. |
| 1895 Daily Chron. 28 Aug. 8/4 *Stick Mounters wanted. |
| 1862 Carpenter Microscope (ed. 3) §394 a. 640 Among other animals captured by the *stick net, the marine Zoologist will be not unlikely to meet with..the Tomopteris. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal Suppl., *Stike pile is Storkes bil. 1895 Leamington Spa Courier 14 Mar., in Mordaunt & Verney Ann. Warwicksh. Hunt (1896) II. 289 The next resort was to the noted stick-pile at Napton, where a fox..was at home. |
| 1891 Century Dict. *Stick-play. |
| 1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 29 Dec. 2/2 The professional boxer, wrestler, or *stick-player. |
| 1887 G. B. Goode Fish. Industr. U.S. v. II. 666 Other names by which they [lobster traps] are known to the fishermen are..‘*stick-pots’, and ‘lath-coops’. |
| 1962 Flight Internat. LXXXI. 330/1 At 70 kt the *stick shaker rattled again, but there was still plenty of aileron control. 1979 Daily Tel. 9 Aug. 7/2 The F.A.A. has proposed that an additional ‘stick-shaker’ be installed to warn the pilot when the plane loses enough speed and lift to approach a stall. |
| 1960 Wall St. Jrnl. 13 Oct. 26 (Advt.), ‘Welcome back, standard transmission.’.. A great majority of those who buy sports cars specify the ‘*stick shift’ for the fun of it. 1976 ‘E. McBain’ Guns (1977) vii. 200 Bucket seats in beige leather, stick shift on the floor. |
| 1872 J. Evans Anc. Stone Impl. xviii. 375 This flat lenticular form [of stone] is better adapted for the *stick-sling than a pebble. |
| 1856 Mayhew Gt. World London 46 Thieves, who admit of being classified as follows:—..‘bludgers’ or ‘*stick slingers’, who rob in company with low women. |
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 11 Jan. 12/4 The outstanding feature of the game was the wonderful..*stickwork of the..outside right. 1923 Kipling Irish Guards in Gt. War I. 164 They [sc. the trenches] had been French..and [were] riveted with strange French stickwork. 1929 B. Oliver Cottages of England iii. 44 The pricked treatment.., as also the scratched patterns, were equally the common finish to cottage exteriors all over Suffolk and Essex. Nothing looks better than this delightful Essex ‘stickwork’. 1933 B. Rackham Guide to Ital. Maiolica i. 5 Lead-glazed earthenware with decoration done..by scratching with a pointed instrument..through a surface layer of..‘slip’... Wares of this kind are..called..sgraffito... The phrase a stecco (‘stickwork’) is generally used..in referring to this process. 1977 Penguin Dict. Decorative Arts 759/1 Stickwork. Small objects such as chess-men, egg-cups, snuff-boxes, etc. made from sticks of various types of wood assembled by the same technique as in Tunbridge ware and then turned on a lathe. |
Add:
[II.] [14.] c. A small group of soldiers assigned to a particular duty.
| 1953 Mars & Minerva Aug. 17/2 Climbing ‘Stick’... Twelve Section, which was formed as a climbing section at the end of last year..has recently had some very good week-ends on the Cornish cliffs and in N. Wales. The ‘Stick’ was formed with the object of having a section in the Regiment which could be trained to lead on rock, snow and ice. 1985 Times 3 July 12/2 A Toyota Land Cruiser with a stick of heavily armed guards. 1988 Times of India 23 Feb. i. 4/3 The modified 7.62 bore rifles carried by the ‘stick’ (the complement of eight infantrymen aboard the ICV [Infantry Combat Vehicle]) can fire 40 rounds a minute and can hit up to a distance of 300 metres. |
▸
colloq. a. orig. Children's slang.
sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me and variants (as a response expressing (feigned) indifference to a verbal insult or abuse): ‘I don't care what is said about me.’ ‘I am not bothered by insults.’
| 1862 Christian Recorder (Electronic text) 22 Mar. Remember the old adage, ‘Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me’. True courage consists in doing what is right, despite the jeers and sneers of our companions. 1894 G. F. Northall Folk-phrases 23 Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me! Said by one youngster to another calling names. 1939 Times 9 Aug. 14/1 A constant barrage of abuse directed against one nation is more than many of them can stand. There is..much citing of the German equivalent of the proverb that ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me’. 1999 Sunday Mirror 10 Oct. 50/6 They say: ‘Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names will never hurt me’, but in my books that's nonsense. |
b. In later use also shortened to
sticks and stones. Also
attrib.: designating an attitude characterized by such (feigned) indifference.
| 1957 B. Gill Day Money Stopped 159 ‘You cheap dead-beat son of a bitch.’ ‘Sticks and stones.’ 1970 Globe Mag. (Toronto) 26 Sept. 2/1 A don't care sticks and stones defiance in his eyes. 1985 D. Koontz Door to December (1994) iii. xix. 352 You shithead. Sticks and stones. Listen good. 1993 Independent (Nexis) 15 May 54 He has come through the worst and now presents a stoical ‘sticks and stones’ front to his detractors. 2000 T. Clancy Bear & Dragon xvii. 248 All that flies back and forth, really, is words... Sticks and stones, y'know? |
▸
U.S. A block of butter, etc., weighing a quarter of a pound.
| 1937 Hammond (Indiana) Times 12 Nov. 24/7 Scotch Apple Pie. Four apples... One stick butter. Cinnamon. 1942 F. M. Farmer Boston Cooking-School Cook Bk. 4 Butter wrapped in quarter-pound sticks is convenient for measuring. 1988 Los Angeles Times 10 Mar. viii. 35/5 People who love to get that stick of butter or margarine out of the refrigerator for a little dab of fat calories here and there. |
▪ II. stick, n.2 Obs. exc. Hist. (
stɪk)
Forms: 4
styk(e, 5
steke, 6
sticke,
stykke, 7–
stick.
[First in the Anglo-L. forms stica, sticha, sticka, estika; it is not clear whether the word thus latinized was English (= stick n.1) or OF. *estike from a continental form of the same word. Cf. MLG. sticke in ‘xx sticken anguillarum’ (
Werden Tax Roll). The use no doubt arose from the practice of carrying a number of eels on a stick passed through the gills.]
A measure of quantity in small eels (
app. twenty-five or twenty-six). Also
Comb. stick-eel, an eel of small size.
| 1086 Domesday Bk. (1783) I. 1 In Linnuartlest in brisennei habet rex consuetudinem . scilicet . ii . caretas . & ii . sticas anguillarum. Ibid. 155 Piscator redd .xxx. stichas anguillarum. 1244 Liberate Roll Nov. 28, Quod..emi faciat...x. milia stickarum anguillarum bone salicionis. 1290 in Archæologia XV. 352 Pro v. estik' anguill' ijs. 1390–1 Earl Derby's Exped. (Camden) 20 Et per manus Thome Fyssher pro xlviij styks anguillarum. Ibid. 29 Pro j styke di. anguillarum, xiiij d. 1343 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 39 In 260 Stykell et anguill. grossis, 3s. 6d. 1481–90 Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.) 143 For vj. stekes of smale elle xxvj. to the steke ij.s. vj.d. 1510–11 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 661 Preter 12 lupos aquaticos et duos stickes anguillarum. 1664 Spelman Gloss. s.v. Brochus, A stick of Eels. 1715 B.N.C. Muniments 20. 28, Kent (MS.), [Tenant to have] the yearly dues of days of work, sticks of eeles, eggs, hens, Cocks,..and plowsheards. a 1728 [see bind n. 5]. |
▪ III. † stick, n.3 Obs. Forms: 5
stic,
styc, 5–6
stik, (5
styke), 6–7
stick, (6
styck), 7
sticke;
Sc. 5–7
steik, 5
stek, (
steke, 6
steyk,
styk).
[a. Flem. stik, stuk, = Du. stuk, G. stück piece.] 1. The customary length (varying according to the material) of a ‘piece’ or roll of certain textile fabrics imported from Flanders.
| 1476 in Acta Audit. (1839) 55/2 Twa stikkis of blak schamlot. 1489 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 136 Item,..for a steik of black chamlot to be a galbert to the King, price vj li. 1493 in Acta Audit. (1839) 180/2 A stik of grene sating contenand xxvj elln. 1513 Inventory in Archæologia LXVI. 346 A Counterpoint of Verdure cont. xxx. flemisshe stickes. 1565–6 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 430 Ane half stik of say, four half stekis of lynning Holand clayth. 1614 in Archæologia XLII. 359 Fowre shorte carpettes of verdure..at ij s. vj d. the sticke. 1670 in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 15 Courser [hangings] then theise..Your Honour may be served with from Flanders, att 18s. per stick. 1694 E. Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. iii. ii. (ed. 18) 388 A Dutch Ell or Stick, by which Tapestry is measured, is but 3/4 of a Yard. |
† 2. le styc,
the stic = the piece. (
Cf. piece n. 4.)
| 1482 Cely Papers (Camden) 111 They wull hawe noo noder money than nenyng grotes at iiij d. ob le styc. Ibid. 114 He..made vj oblygaschons payabull at vj monthys and vj monthis the stic conteynyng v{supc} marke. |
3. See
quot. (
Cf. steak 2 a.)
| 1615 E. S. Brit. Buss in Arber Garner III. 636 This Yager..comes to the said Buss..and buys all such herrings as she hath barrelled. Which barrels, upon the first packing, are called Sticks. And, in part of payment for her said Herring Sticks, delivers..salt [etc.]. |
▪ IV. stick, n.4 (
stɪk)
[f. stick v.1] 1. A temporary stoppage, a hitch in proceedings or progress; a boggle.
Obs. exc. arch.| 1646 R. Baillie Anabaptism (1647) 139 But the greatest stick is upon the antecedent, Baptismes succession to Circumcision. 1675 V. Alsop Anti-Sozzo iii. 161 But all the stick lyes there, and we must enter a Friendly Debate with him upon the issue. 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. ii. (ed. 6, 1693) 104 When we came at the Hill Difficulty, he made no stick at that, nor did he much fear the Lyons. 1889 Stevenson Master of Ballantrae viii, It is a strange thing that I should be at a stick for a date. 1893 ― Catriona iv, The Advocate appeared for a moment at a stick, sitting with pursed lips. |
2. Something which causes hindrance or delay, a difficulty, obstacle to progress.
Obs. exc. arch.| 1657 Cromwell Sp. 21 Apr., in Carlyle (1871) V. 31, I think you may well remember what the issue was of the last Conference..and what the stick then was. 1658–9 Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 116 To consider in what way you will address to his Highness, to acquaint him clearly what has been your stick. 1893 Stevenson Catriona ii, It would be ill for me to find a conveyance, but that should be no stick to you. |
3. The power of adhering or of causing a thing to adhere; adhesiveness.
lit. and
fig.| 1853 Lowell Fireside Trav. (1864) 113 Surveyors' names have no natural stick in them. They remind one of the epithets of poetasters, which peel off like a badly-gummed postage-stamp. 1892 Kipling Barrack-room Ballads, Screw-guns 10 We'd climb up the side of a sign-board an' trust to the stick o' the paint. |
b. Something which causes adhesion, a sticky substance.
| 1898 Engineering Mag. XVI. 128/1 The liquor..is reduced to the consistency of thick syrup and is called ‘stick’. |
4. Cricket. A batsman who remains a long time at the wicket, one not easily ‘got out’.
| 1863 Lillywhite's Cricket Scores III. 242 Mr. Haygarth (always a great ‘stick’) in his first innings was in three hours. 1901 R. H. Lyttelton Outdoor Games vi. 121 One of the curses of the present day is the stick who, by restraining every impulse to hit, cannot be got out on these perfect modern wickets. Ibid. 126 Therefore the brilliant hitter had to abandon his naturally-attractive game and become a stick. |
5. A stab. (
Cf. stick-free a.)
| 1633 Shirley Young Admiral iv. G 2, No circumstance must be forgot, To make him free from sticke and shot. 1818 in Todd; and in later Dicts. |
Add:
6. Stock Exchange. A large quantity of unsold stock;
spec. the proportion of shares which must be taken up by underwriters after an unsuccessful issue. (Freq. as
underwriting stick). See
sticky a.
2 3 a.
| 1982 Observer 21 Nov. 17/3 The underwriters..now have to take up over {pstlg}400 million worth of shares—the biggest ‘stick’ in Stock Exchange history. 1988 Sunday Times 15 May d5/1 It..was left with ‘the stick’—City terminology for a tranche of unwanted stock. |
▪ V. stick, v.1 (
stɪk)
Pa. tense and
pple. stuck (
stʌk). Forms: 1
stician,
stycian, 3–6
stike,
stik, (3
stikie), 4–6
styke,
stycke, (4
stiken,
stic), 5
styk(k)yn, 6
stikk,
styk(ke,
styck, 6–7
sticke, 6–
stick.
pa. tense. α. 1
sticade,
sticode, 3–4
stikede, 4
stikid(e, 4–5
stiked,
styk(k)ed, 5
stickede,
stykkit, (
stikt,
stickyd), 5–6
stycked, 6
styckyd, (
stykkyd), (
Sc. stiket,
stikit,
stikkit), 6–7
stickt, 6–9
Sc. sticket,
-it, 5–7, 9
dial. sticked; β. 5 (9
Sc.)
stak, 5–7
stacke, 5–7, 8–9
arch. and
north. stack; γ. 6
stoke,
stocke, 7
stooke, 6–7
stucke, 6–
stuck.
pa. pple. α. 1
sticod, 3–4
ystiked, 3–5
stiked, 4
styked,
istiked,
ystikked,
stikked,
stiken,
stickid, 4–5
stikid, 4–6
stycked, 5–6
sticked, 6–7
stickt, 6
stickte,
stickyd,
Sc. stikkit, 6–9
Sc. stickit,
sticket; β. 6
stacke, 9
dial. stack; γ. 6
stoke(n, 6–7
stucke, (6
Sc. stukne), 7
stucken, 7–
stuck.
[OE. stician wk. v., f. Teut. root *stik- to pierce, be sharp (whence stick, stitch ns.):—Indogermanic *stig- (:*steig-) found in Gr. στίζειν (:—*stigy-) to prick, στιγµή, στίγµα prick, point (see stigma), L. instīgāre to spur on, instigate; also with nasal infix, in Goth. stigqan to thrust, L. -stinguĕre to prick (distinguĕre to distinguish); and without initial s in Skr. tij- to be sharp, tigmá sharp. The Teut. root chiefly appears in the altered form *stek- (*stak-: *stǣk-), as in the Com. WGer. strong verb *stekan to prick, thrust: see steek v. The formal equivalent of OE. *stician (WGer. type *stikōjan, *stekōjan, prob. denominative) occurs in OHG. stehhôn to prick, stab, cut the throat of; a parallel formation (WGer. type *stikkjan, also prob. denominative) is found as (M)Du., (M)LG. stikken to prick, pierce, stab, also to embroider (Sw. sticka, Da. stikke from LG.), OHG. sticchen in the same senses (MHG., mod.G. sticken to embroider). It is impossible accurately to separate the history of this originally weak verb from that of the originally strong
steek v.
2 The latter was from an early period sometimes conjugated weak, while on the other hand the strong inflexions of
steek became associated with
stick, which, moreover, in the 16th c. formed a new strong
pa. tense and
pple. stuck (
cf. dig,
dug). It is therefore often doubtful to which verb forms like
stack,
stoken, should be referred. Further, in some northern dialects the
ME. stĭke is normally represented by
stēke, and therefore coincides (at least graphically) with
steek v.
2 The
wk. form
sticked remained in somewhat common use until the 17th c., and still survives (in certain senses) in
Sc. and various dialects (see
Eng. Dial. Dict.).]
I. To pierce, thrust.
1. trans. To stab, pierce, or transfix with a thrust of a spear, sword, knife, or other sharp instrument; to kill by this means, more explicitly
to stick to death. Also
refl. Not now in dignified use.
| a 900 O.E. Martyrol. 15 Nov. 206 Þa he þæt nolde, þa stycodon hiᵹ hyne myd hyra sperum. a 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. i. x. [xiii.] (1890) 48 Betwih him twam we þus tweofealdne deað þrowiað, oððe sticode beoð oððe on sæ adruncene. c 1205 Lay. 20659 Heo..stikeden & sloȝen al þat heo neh comen. Ibid. 20962 Alle þa gode wiues heo stikeden mid cnifes. a 1300 Cursor M. 21124 Men sais he stiked was wit suord. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 3527 Syþen wiþ swerd & knyf þey met; Ilk oþer on ran ilk oþer to styke. 13.. Will. Palerne 3818 Many a stef stede [was] stiked þere to dethe. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 471 He ordeyned him..to cacche flyes, and styke hem wiþ a scharp poyntel. 1395 Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) i. xxxv, The sharpe spere that stykked hym to the hert. 1422 Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. 153 Whan he apercewid that scappe he ne myght, he raane to a stake and hym Stickyd throw the body. 1529 Rastell Pastyme, Brit. Hist. (1811) 285 The moost comyn tale was that he [Hen. VI] was stycked with a dagger, by y⊇ handes of Rycharde, duke of Gloucester. 1556 Olde Antichrist 90 b, He was taken and sticked to deathe. 1615 Sylvester Job Triumph. ii. 319 With Vipers' tongues hee shall be deadly stuck. 1619 Drayton Ballad Agincourt 72 Like a Storme suddenly, The English Archery Stuck the French Horses. 1705 Vanbrugh Confed. iv. i. G 4 b, If I had let him stick himself, I shou'd have been envy'd by all the great Ladies in the Town. 1832 Examiner 98/1 Were he to draw his bayonet and stick the brawler. 1842 Borrow Bible in Spain xxvi, If I had my knife here I would stick him. |
| fig. a 1300 Cursor M. 11370 Þin aghen hert A sorful suerd sal stik ouerthuert. Ibid. 24100 On mi soru mai be nan end, It stikes me sua strang. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. i. ii. 254 My Fathers rough and enuious disposition Sticks me at heart. 1606 ― Tr. & Cr. iii. ii. 202 Yea, let them say, to sticke the heart of falsehood, As false as Cressid. |
| absol. 1530 Tindale Expos. Matt. v.–vii. (? 1550) 99 b, The scrybes and pharyseyes had thruste vp the swerde of the worde of God into a scabard..that it coulde neither sticke nor cutte. 1822 Shelley Faust ii. 172 [Chorus of Witches] Stick with the prong, and scratch with the broom. |
b. Of a horned animal: To pierce with the tusks, to impale with the horns; to gore. Also
absol. Now
dial.| c 893 ælfred Oros. iv. i. §5 Þa, siþþan he irre wæs & ᵹewundod, he..þa oþre elpendas sticade & gremede. c 1890 W. G. Lyttle Adv. Robin Gordon, Robin's Read. II. 18 (E.D.D.) Tell't hir about the goat neer stickin' her. |
c. To kill (an animal,
esp. a pig) by thrusting a knife into its throat. Also
transf.| 13.. Pol. Songs (Camden) 190 Hue leyȝen y the stretes y-styked ase swyn. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vii. v. 220 Hym bysemeth better to stycke a swyne than to sytte afore a damoysel of hyhe parage. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. i. i. 108. 1594 Lyly Mother Bombie v. iii, I had thought they had beene sticking of pigs, I heard such a squeaking. 1616 R. C. Times Whistle ii. (1871) 25 For all thou lookest soe big, Thou never yet durst see a sillie pig Stucke to the heart. 1884 Tennyson Becket i. iii, By God's death, thou shalt stick him like a calf! |
d. Sport. To spear (a salmon).
to stick a pig (in India): to hunt the wild boar with a spear. (
Cf. pigsticking, etc.)
| 1820 Scott Monast. Introd. Ep., I have seen the fundations [of the old drawbridge] when we were sticking saumon. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair lxiii, He wrote off to Chutney..that he was going to show his friend..how to stick a pig in the Indian fashion. 1891 ‘Lucas Malet’ Wages of Sin ii. ii, He had regarded India as an awfully jolly place where you shot tigers and stuck pigs and played polo. |
e. To make holes in (something) with a pointed instrument.
rare.
| 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1805) 102 Stick your neck [of mutton] all over in little holes with a sharp penknife. |
f. To inoculate, to give a hypodermic injection to; to introduce a hypodermic needle into (a person).
U.S. colloq.| 1946 Sun (Baltimore) 19 June 10/1 Though he [sc. the traveler] surely has been ‘stuck’ for every known disease, no telling how often he will be halted by health officers and cast into quarantine. 1963 New Yorker 25 May 42/2 'Fraid I've got to stick you once more. 1969 E. Welty in New Yorker 15 Mar. 43/1 The floor nurse came in to feed Mr. Dalzell, then stick him with a needle. |
2. To thrust (a dagger, a spear, a pointed instrument)
in,
into,
through.
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 707 Loue hath his firy dart so brennyngly Ystiked thurgh my trewe careful herte. 1569 T. Underdown Ovid's Invect. Ibis L j, And that a shafte stoke in thy heart, may take thy life away. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. i. 115 Thou stick'st a dagger in me. 1607 Chapman Bussy d'Ambois v. iii. 61 Or thou great Prince of shades where neuer sunne Stickes his far-darted beames. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. i. 7 The Bride-groome entring the Church, sticks his dagger in the doore. 1872 A. S. Packard Guide Study Insects (ed. 3) 428 The pin should be stuck through the right elytron. |
| fig. a 1400 Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. xliii. 254 And þat loue mote also faste In-to myn herte stykyd be, As was þe spere in-to þin herte. |
† b. to stick the point: to prove conclusively.
| 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. vi. 268 This Quaternion of Subscribers, have stick'n the point dead with me that all antient English Monks were Benedictines. |
c. to stick one's eyes in: to subject to a piercing gaze.
Sc. and
dial.| 1456 Sir G. Hay Gov. Princes Wks. (S.T.S.) II. 110 Scho stykkit hir eyne in a man as scho wald throu lukand perse him with her sycht. 1898 J. Macmanus Bend of Road 218 Masther Whoriskey is sittin'..with his eyes stuck in poor Mary as if he wanted to overlook her. |
d. indirect passive.
| 1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 16 A huge lump..which he carried over his shoulder, stuck through with a pole. |
3. To thrust, push forward, protrude (one's head, hand, etc.)
in,
into,
over something. Also with
out.
| 1627 May Lucan vi. L 2 b, She..from their orbes doth teare His congeal'd eyes, and stickes her knucles there. 1713 Berkeley Guardian No. 39 ¶2 Prejudice in the figure of a woman standing..with her eyes close shut, and her fore⁓fingers stuck in her ears. 1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge viii, A number of joyous faces were stuck over the hammock cloths reconnoitring us. 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 43 Stick the ends of your fingers in this, and then lightly go over the glass. 1893 Stevenson Catriona ii, And that's what makes me think so much of ye—you that's no Stewart— to stick your head so deep in Stewart business. 1907 Le Fanu Dragon Volant i, A lean old gentleman..stuck his head out of the window. 1914 A. Bennett Price of Love 207 She belonged to the middle class..the class that sticks its chin out and gets things done. |
b. intr. To project, protrude. Now only
const. from,
out of.
Cf. stick out, 32 a.
| 1580 T. Blundeville Curing Horses Dis. cxiii. 52 b, Thrust in one of the pinnes from aboue downeward, so as both ends may equallie sticke without the skin. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iii. v, Or what is this that sticks visible from the lapelle of Chevalier de Court? 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped xv, I saw a steel butt of a pistol sticking from under the flap of his coat-pocket. |
II. To remain fixed.
4. intr. Of a pointed instrument: To remain with its point imbedded; to be fixed by piercing. More explicitly
to stick fast (
† stick still).
| c 1000 ælfric Judges iii. 23 He forlet þa þat swurd stician on him. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 23 Hu mei þe leche þe lechnien þa hwile þet iren sticat in þine wunde. c 1290 St. Edmund 47 in S. Eng. Leg. 298 Þe Arewene stikeden on him ful þicke. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. iii. 40 Theryn stack a fayre swerd naked by the poynt. 1483 Caxton Golden Leg. 173/3 His staffe sprange out of hys honde..and..styked faste in the erthe. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. (1812) I. ccclxxiv. 621 The spere brake, and the tronchion stacke styll in the squiers necke. 1538 in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden) 198 Sum [of them] feytynge so that the knyffe hathe stoken in the bone. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 317 By the light he spies Lucrecias gloue, wherein her needle sticks. c 1622 Ford etc. Witch Edmonton ii. i. (1658) 19 A Burbolt, which sticks at this hour up to the Feathers in my heart. 1867 Morris Jason iv. 316 Bleeding from arm and back Wherein two huntsmen's arrows lightly stack. 1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 36 Where the joints are there the arrow sticks. |
| fig. a 1225 Ancr. R. 60 Erest heo scheot þe earewen of þe liht eien, þat fleoð lichtliche uorð,..& stikeð iðe heorte. c 1386 Chaucer Doctor's T. 211 Vpon hir humble face he gan biholde, With fadres pitee stikynge thurgh his herte. 1621 T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 154 When hee [the infernall serpent] first bit and stung our first mother Eue, leauing fast sticking in vs the sting of sinne. 1851 Kingsley Misc. (1859) I. 366 Phrases..which stick, like barbed arrows, in the memory of every reader. |
† b. To be fastened (
in something) by having its end thrust or driven in.
Obs.| c 1386 Chaucer Sir Thopas 196 Vp on his Creest He bar a tour And ther Inne stiked a lilie flour. 1515 Barclay Egloges i. Argt., In the side of his felte there stacke a spone of tree. 1595 Shakes. John ii. 317 There stucke no plume in any English Crest, That is remoued by a staffe of France. |
† 5. Of things: To be fastened in position; to be fixed in or as in a socket; to be attached.
Obs.| c 888 ælfred Boeth. xxxix. §7 Swa swa þa spacan sticiað oðer ende on þære felᵹe o er on þære nafe. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1186 O perle, quod I..If hit be ueray & soth sermoun, Þat þou so stykes in garlande gay, [etc.]. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 7633 Seven planetes er oboven us;..Þai styk noght fast, als smale sternes dose. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vii. xxii. 248 Dame Lynet..enoynted it..there as it was smyten of, and in the same wyse she dyd to the other parte there as the hede stak. And thenne she sette it to gyders and it stak as fast as euer it did. 1567 Golding Ovid's Met. iii. 39 Three spirting tongues, three rowes of teeth within his head did sticke. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. cxlii. 1 Lord, thou..knowst each path where stick the toyls of danger. 1665 Bunyan Holy Citie 173 We shall stick like Pearls in the Crowns of the twelve Apostles. 1673 Grew Anat. Pl. vi. iv. §9 The particles..of Salt stick in them, as the Spokes do in the Hub of a Wheel, or as the Quills in the Skin of a Porcupine. |
b. In phrases with
full,
close, expressive of crowding to the utmost. [
Cf. G.
stecken.]
| c 1400 Brut cv. 107 Þai..made Archires to him shote with Arwes, til þat his body stickede alse ful of Arwes as an hirchone is ful of prickes. 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 9 Make..a solid Foundation..of Piles..driven in as close together as ever they can stick. 1889 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xxviii, She..was..as full of fun and games as she could stick. |
6. Chiefly of persons: To continue or remain persistently in a place. Now only
colloq.| c 888 ælfred Boeth. iv, Sticiað ᵹehydde beorhte cræftas. a 1225 Ancr. R. 214 Þe ȝiure glutun is þes feondes manciple. Uor he stikeð euer iðe celere, oðer iðe kuchene. c 1290 Miȝhel 782 in S. Eng. Leg. 322 Þulke [soul] þat halt ane Mannes lijf and stikez in þe heorte. 1537 Original of Sectes 2 So agayn may one be out of y⊇ world w{supt} his body, & styck myddes in y⊇ world w{supt} his harte. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades i. viii. (1592) 68/2 Our Lord died..but hee taried not, nor yet stack faste amonge the deed. 1638 W. Haig in J. Russell Haigs viii. (1881) 219 The longer I stick here the more I consume myself in expense. 1844 Lillywhite's Handbk. Cricket 18 Whenever you find two batsmen sticking at their wickets..try a change [of bowling]. 1876 Hardy Ethelberta xxviii, I'll stick where I am, for here I am safe as to food and shelter. 1882 E. A. Freeman Let. 18 Apr. (MS.) There I should like to stick. |
b. fig. (Sometimes with mixture of sense 4;
cf. also sense 8.) Of feelings, thoughts, etc.: To remain permanently in the mind.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 26927 [The soul cannot be healed of sin] To-quils it stikand es þar-in. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 5166 No make no sorowe, ne myslyke, Þ at wanhope In þyn herte styke. c 1430 Chev. Assigne 241 That [saying] styked styffe in here brestes þat wolde þe qwene brenne. 1535 Starkey Let. 15 Feb., in England (1878) p. xiv, Yf euer any of thes..dow styke in your memory & mynd, I besech you let thes few wordys..be put in the nombur of them. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. v. 41 Alex. His speech stickes in my heart. Cleo. Mine eare must plucke it thence. 1666 Pepys Diary 17 Aug., It sticks in the memory of most merchants how the late King..was persuaded in a strait..to seize upon the money in the Tower. 1741 Watts Improv. Mind i. xvii. (1801) 143 And a hundred proverbial sentences..are formed into rhyme or a verse, whereby they are made to stick upon the memory. 1891 Meredith One of our Conq. xxviii, But again, ‘the meaning of it past date,’ stuck in her memory. |
† c. To linger, dwell on a point in discourse. Const.
in,
upon.
Obs.| 1547 J. Harrison Exhort. Scottes 218 In which point I will not muche stycke. 1586 W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 91 Therefore this last kinde of errour is not to be stucke vppon. 1599 Rollock Serm. vii. Wks. 1849 I. 380 Then ze see heir ane revelation be the Spreit. Mark it, I sall stick sum thing on the wordis. a 1646 J. Burroughes Exp. Hosea vi. 108 That principally which we must stick upon a while, which is intended here in the Text most of all. |
† d. To stop, end one's discourse.
Obs.| 1563 Homilies ii. Rogation Week i. Nnnniiij b, And this once pronounced, he stacke not styl at this poynt: but forth⁓with thervpon ioyned to these wordes. To hym be glory..for euer. Amen. 1680 H. More Apocal. Apoc. 310 We are never the wiser what Empire certainly to pitch upon if the Angel stick here; and therefore he holds on. |
e. Vingt-et-un. To decline the opportunity of adding to one's hand.
| 1931 W. V. Tilsley Other Ranks 147 A little group in the centre of the room sprawled on their blankets, playing pontoon. ‘I'll stick!’ ‘Twist one!’ ‘Busted!’ 1950 [see bust v.2 f]. 1956 R. Fuller Image of Society vii. 188 ‘In other words the bank is sticking at sixteen,’ said Cawsey, amused at his own turn of phrase. 1976 G. Sims End of Web iii. 22 Hello, young Clive. Still sticking on seventeens?.. I'm coming round for another pontoon lesson shortly. |
† 7. To remain firm, continue steadfast, stand
fast; to be determined
to do something; to persist
in (an opinion, etc.); to be persistently engaged
upon.
Obs. Cf. stick to, 26.
| 1447 Shillingford Lett. (Camden) 11 Apon this mene he stiked faste, and thoghte hit was resonable. c 1500 in W. Denton Eng. in 15th C. (1888) 319 Bott I meruell grettly that ye styke so sore to make thaym to gyffe more then othere men hase gyffen afore. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 8 b, All persones that wyll not be counseyled..but stycke fast in theyr owne blynde fantasy. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 1 But he still sticking in his opinion, the two gentlemen requested mee to examine his reasons. 1607 Tourneur Rev. Trag. v. i. I 1 b, Could you not stick: see what confession doth? c 1698 Locke Cond. Underst. §25 Wks. 1714 III. 411 If the Matter be knotty, and the Sence lies deep, the Mind must stop and buckle to it, and stick upon it with Labour and Thought. |
b. To keep persistently
at.
| 1886 G. Allen Maimie's Sake xxii, We've stuck awfully close at this thing while we've been working at it. 1977 J. F. Fixx Compl. Bk. Running iv. 49 One must stick at one's sport if it is to continue doing any good. |
c. trans. (
slang.) To put up with, endure association with, tolerate (a person or thing). Also
to stick it, to continue what one is doing without flinching.
| 1899 Daily News 26 Oct. 6/6 He got on all right with his wife, but he could not ‘stick’ his mother-in-law. 1900 Ibid. 1 Jan. 3/2 They're big men, and they look as if they can ‘stick it’. 1905 Macm. Mag. Nov. 68 Sergeant Chambers shouted back, ‘Go to hell!’ and to his men he cried, ‘Stick it!’ 1907 Ibid. Feb. 320 Dick had pulled out for home because ‘he couldn't stick that Mr. Jenkins.’ 1907 J. M. Synge Lett. to Molly (1971) 172, I cannot ‘stick’ these plays any more. 1922 A. S. M. Hutchinson This Freedom iv. iii. 279, I couldn't stick the place. 1928 Daily Tel. 27 Mar. 9/1, I resigned..because I could stick the chief's bullying no longer. 1960 D. Storey This Sporting Life i. ii. 29, I couldn't stick the sight of him standing up there against the Batley skyline. |
8. intr. Of things: To remain attached or fastened by adhesion, to adhere, hold, cleave. Const.
on,
to,
unto,
in. See also
stick together, 33.
| 1558 Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. 21 b, Take the flower, that sticketh on the bourdes and walles of a Mille. 1601 Holland Pliny xxxv. vi. II. 528 As for Sinopis..That which stucke fast unto the rockes, excelleth all the rest. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 60 Sounding with our plummet, sand of Amber stuck thereto. 1679 Moxon Mech. Exerc. ix. 160 Should the Augure-hole be too wide, the Shank would be loose in it, and not stick strong enough in it. 1747 H. Glasse Cookery ii. 14 Take care they don't stick to the Bottom of the Pan. 1759 R. Brown Compl. Farmer 104 First wet both the bag and the press to keep the wax from sticking. 1855 Browning Twins i, Do roses stick like burrs? 1861 Lowell Biglow P. Ser. ii. i. 73 We'll try ye fair, ole Grafted-leg, an' ef the tar wun't stick, Th' ain't not a juror [etc.]. 1868–70 Morris Earthly Par. I. i. 450 But when that he Gat hold of it [sc. a stone upon the floor], full fast it stack. |
| Proverbial. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxiii, Hout tout, man! let that flee stick in the wa'..; when the dirt's dry it will rub out. 1911 Concise Oxf. Dict. s.v., If you throw mud enough, some of it will stick. |
b. to stick to (occas. in, † by, † on) a person's fingers: said
fig. of money dishonestly retained.
| 1576 [see teller 2]. 1660 Marquis of Worcester in Dircks Life xiv. (1865) 229 Nothing hath stuck to my fingers, in order to benefit or self-interest. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas vii. xv. (Rtldg.) 11 Probably something still stuck by the fingers. 1826 Lamb Pop. Fallacies ii, Some portions of it [alienated Church property] somehow always stuck so fast, that the denunciators have been fain to postpone the prophecy. 1860 Motley Netherl. x. II. 87 He was..a most infamous peculator. One-third of the money sent by the Queen for the soldiers stuck in his fingers. |
c. fig. in various uses. Of a fact, a saying: To abide in one's memory. Of an imputation: To be fastened upon a person. Of opinions, feelings, habits: To be fixed, not to be shaken off. Of a criminal charge: to be substantiated, take effect. Of an order or decision made by a court of justice, legislature, or other authority: to be implemented or complied with. Hence with wider application,
esp. in
phr. to make (something) stick, to make (that thing) effective; to clinch; to substantiate.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. v. ii. 17 Now do's he feele His secret Murthers sticking on his hands. 1677 Sir C. Wyche in Essex Papers (Camden) II. 140 My Lord Treasurer has cleared himself of those things which seemed to stick upon him in relation to the excise. 1751 Chesterfield Lett. cclxx, It is commonly said..that ridicule is the best test of truth; for that it will not stick where it is not just. 1820 Scott Monast. Answ. Introd. Ep., For MacDuff's peculiarity sticks to your whole race. 1839 Longfellow Life (1891) I. 331, I quote him [Horace]; because his phrases stick. 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain i. 39 A bad character sticks to a country as well as to an individual. 1857 W. Collins Dead Secret vi. i, The same fear that she had all the way from this house, still sticks to her. 1932 [see rap n.1 4 e]. 1942 Sun (Baltimore) 12 June 1/7 A..program of cooperation designed (1) to hasten the defeat of Germany and (2) to make that defeat stick. 1944 Ibid. 7 Feb. 1/1 The Department of Labor..would be empowered to hand down decisions ‘which will stick and not be vetoed by any other Federal agency’. 1951 E. Paul Springtime in Paris xvi. 324 Every officer at the Commissariat of the 5th had been itching to get Oudin, on any charge at all that could be made to stick. 1963 ‘S. Woods’ Taste of Fears xiv. 148 ‘They couldn't make it stick,’ said his uncle, positively... ‘No evidence.’ 1971 A. Price Alamut Ambush xii. 147 God knows whether the Americans and the Russians can make the cease-fire stick. 1981 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 Jan. 25/1 Picasso now taught himself how to use a poetic, half-theatrical imagination to make his art ‘stick’, while at the same time..taking pains to avoid the illustrational. |
† 9. To be joined as an appendage
to.
Obs.| 1631 Widdowes Nat. Philos. 61 The Stomacke is a part like perchment, sticking to the throat. 1650 Howell Giraffi's Rev. Naples i. 25 The Vice-King..remov'd himself..to castelnuovo, which sticks to the Royall Palace, there being a bridge to passe between. |
10. Of a living creature: To cling
to,
on,
upon.
to stick on, to (a horse), to keep one's seat on.
| 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 62 The hail peple..saw.. mony thousandis of sik lytle foules stiking to the schip. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 2 [The flea's] feet are slit into claws or talons, that he might the better stick to what he lights upon. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 54 He hoists himself..upon..a Horse, and sticks as close to him with his Thighs, as if he were got cross a Yard-Arm. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VII. 310 The..leeches..stuck to her so close, that the poor creature expired from the quantity of blood which she lost. 1861 Tennyson Sailor Boy iii, And on thy ribs the limpet sticks. 1872 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 38/2 To learn how to stick on a horse's back. 1881 A. C. Grant Bush Life Queensld. ix. (1882) 82 He tried his hand at sticking to some of the more notorious youngsters [horses]. |
| fig. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. ii. iv. 78 Every fresh Jew sticking on him like a fresh horse-leech. |
| absol. 1869 Blackmore Lorna Doone xi, I should have stuck on much longer, sir, if her [a pony's] sides had not been wet. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton iv, His riding was not a masterly performance, but at all events he stuck on. |
b. trans. To retain one's seat on (a horse).
| 1844 W. H. Maxwell Scotland iii. (1855) 42, I'll never stick him bare-backed. |
11. intr. To be set fast or entangled in sand, clay, mud, mire, and the like; similarly of a boat, to become fixed or grounded on sand, a rock, etc.; more explicitly
to stick fast.
| c 888 ælfred Boeth. xxxvii. §2 Ᵹesihst þu nu..on hu þiostrum horoseaðe þara unðeawa ða yfelwillendan sticiað [L. quanto in cœno probra volvantur]. c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 411 And in the sond hir ship stiked so faste That thennes wolde it noght of al a tyde. 1513 Douglas æneis i. i. 80 Scho with a thuid stikkit on ane scharp roike. 1530 Palsgr. 735/2, I stycke fast in a myer or a maresse, je me arreste. 1590 Acts Privy Council (1899) XIX. 406 The Thames is soe shallowe in divers places as boates and barges doe sticke by the waie. 1611 Bible Acts xxvii. 41 They ranne the shippe a ground, and the forepart stucke fast. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low-C. Warres 514 Unpassable Marishes and Moors, which a man no sooner treads upon, but he sticks in the Mud and Dirt. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. vii. 354 At length the ship stuck fast in the mud. 1815 Scott Guy M. xiii, Mrs. Mac-Candlish's postilion..said aloud, ‘If he had stuck by the way, I would have lent him a heezie. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxvii. 198 The carriage..had stuck in one of the ridges. |
b. In
fig. phrases
to stick in the briers,
clay,
mire (now
rare or
obs.): to be involved in difficulties or trouble.
to stick in the mud: now usually, to remain content in a mean or abject condition.
| c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. xxii. 90 Haue mercy on me oute of þe clay, þat I stike not þerin. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Hæreo, They beyng accused of extortion and pillage were in muche trouble, or stacke in the bryars. c 1620 A. Hume Brit. Tongue Ded., Quhiles I stack in this claye, it pleased God to bring your Majestie hame to visit your aun Ida. 1898 J. Arch Life xiv. 345 To teach a man to be content to stick in the mud is to teach a man to curse himself. |
† c. To be involved
in (some undesirable state or condition).
Obs.| c 1640 H. Bell Luther's Colloq. Mens. (1652) 309 And whoso blameth mee for giving way and yielding so much to the Pope at the first, let him consider in what darkness I still stuck at that time. 1666 Bunyan Grace Abound. §201, I should still be as sticking in the jaws of desperation. |
12. To become fixed or stationary in or on account of some obstruction, to be arrested or intercepted. Of a thing made to run, swing, or slide: To become unworkable, to jam.
| 1531 Sel. Pleas Crt. Admiralty (Selden Soc.) I. 58 It chaunced his nett to styck or fasten in the bend or knot of a cable. 1707 E. Smith Phædra & Hippol. i. i, My Blood runs backward, and my fault'ring Tongue Sticks at the Sound. 1852 Seidel Organ 46 One of the keys in the pedal sticks, moving neither up nor down. 1855 Tennyson Brook 85 The gate, Half-parted from a weak and scolding hinge, Stuck. 1886 C. H. Fagge's Princ. Med. I. 31 A strip of flannel had got between the drawer and its frame, and had made the drawer stick. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 352 If..an embolus sticks in the vertebral, the basilar artery may become gradually thrombosed and blocked. |
| fig. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 24 Let us not wonder that our praiers sticke in their ascent. |
b. Of food, etc.: To lodge (in the throat).
to stick in one's gizzard,
stomach (
fig.): see the
ns.| 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 117 b, An other speakes in his throte, as though a good Ale crumme stacke fast. 1727 Dorrington Philip Quarll (1816) 16 A phlegm sticking in my throat, I happened to hem pretty loud. 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. x. III. 195 ‘How's your throat, child?’..‘Oh, quite well, Pa,..it was a bit of the rind of the cheese that stuck’. 1895 P. Hemingway Out of Egypt i. ii. 12 He..saw a plate of macaroni for his supper. He tried to eat some, but it stuck in his throat. |
c. to stick in one's throat,
† teeth: (
a) of words, ‘to resist emission’ (J.); (
b) of a statement, proposal, notion, belief, etc.: to be difficult to swallow, to be unacceptable.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. ii. 33 Amen stuck in my throat. 1634 Hall Contempl., N.T. iv. xxi. 219 How this suit sticks in her teeth; and dare not freely come forth. 1822 Scott Nigel xiv, ‘My lord,’— said Richie, and then stopped to cough and hem, as if what he had to say stuck somewhat in his throat. 1843 Dickens Let. 1 Feb. (1973) III. 434 Your dedication to Peel stuck in my throat. 1885 E. W. Hamilton Diary 3 May (1972) II. 855 To luncheon..with F. Rothschild to talk over politics... What sticks in his throat is Chamberlain's programme—his quack remedies for the agricultural labourer, of whose real wants he has no experience. 1924 G. B. Shaw St. Joan Pref. p. li, The truth sticks in our throats with all the sauces it is served with. 1938 W. S. Maugham Summing Up lxxvi. 310 This notion has long stuck in my gizzard. 1953 A. J. Toynbee World & West vi. 98 The new religions which were now being offered..would have stuck in a philosopher's throat if the missionary had not sugared the strange pill for him. 1958 C. P. Snow Conscience of Rich xxxi. 232, I didn't like refusing, but it stuck in my gullet to help that blasted group of reds. 1976 A. Price War Game ii. i. 193 Weston would find the accident..sticking in his throat, a question much too sharp to be swallowed. |
d. Of a weather-glass, the wind: To remain without fluctuation or variation.
13. Of a matter: To be at a stand, to suffer delay or hindrance. Const.
at,
in,
on,
upon.
| 1530 Palsgr. 735/2 It stycketh, as a mater stycketh and gothe nat forward, il tient. The mater stycketh nat in me, la matiere ne tient pas a moy. 1537 Latimer Let. Cromwell in Serm. & Rem. (1845) 383 As touching your request concerning your friend,..it shall not stick on my behalf. 1619 Wotton in Eng. & Germ. (Camden) 50, I finde..a good disposition there,..but I doubte it will sticke upon who shall beginne. 1676 Earl of Anglesey in Essex Papers (Camden) II. 84 Our King hath the French promises the generall peace shall not stick for want of the surrender [of Sicily]. 1703 Barrett Analecta 30 May not this excite and encourage thee to set about the Work, to consider how the Lord is beforehand with thee, that the Work is not like to stick at him. a 1715 Burnet Own Time iv. (1724) I. 629 A rich widow..hearing at what his designs stuck,..furnished him with ten thousand pounds. 1893 Stevenson Catriona iii, ‘I believe I could indicate in two words where the thing sticks’, said I. |
b. Of a person or thing: To remain in a stationary condition, to be unable to make progress. Of a commodity etc.: Not to ‘go off’, to remain unsold (
cf. sticker 3 b).
| 1641 Nicholas Papers (Camden) 46 We stick wher we were for officers, y⊇ King uppon his declaration and y⊇ Parlement uppon ther two propositions made to him. 1687 Miege Fr. Dict. ii. s.v., His mind sticks betwixt Hope and Fear. 1729 Swift Poems, Soldier & Scholar 3 This Hamilton's Bawn, while it sticks on my Hand, I lose by the House, what I get by the Land. 1741 Warburton Div. Legat. iv. v. II. 269 And there they [the contending parties] must have stuck, till Famine and Desertion had ended the Quarrel. 1872 Bagehot Physics & Pol. (1876) 158 How then did any civilisation become unfixed? No doubt most civilisations stuck where they first were; no doubt we see now why stagnation is the rule of the world, and why progress is the very rare exception. |
† c. Of a person or his thoughts: To rest
in some intermediate or subsidiary object.
Obs.| 1534 Prymer E, Teache vs deare father not to styck, steye, or ground our selues in our good workes or deseruynges, but to gyue & submitte our selfe..to thyn infynyte..mercy. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 55 Y⊇ Iewes so sticked in the figure, that they considered not the thing signified. a 1628 Preston New Covt. (1630) 386 The Jewes..could not see Christ himselfe, the inward promises, but stucke in the out⁓ward barke and rinde of Ceremonies. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iv. viii. §13 Where-ever the distinct Idea any Words stand for, is not known..there our Thoughts stick wholly in Sounds, and are able to attain no real Truth or Falshood. |
14. To be in difficulty or trouble; to stop or stand in a state of perplexity; to be embarrassed, puzzled, or nonplussed.
| 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades i. x. 94/1 It is requisite that we firste shewe who it is that is our neighbour, touching whiche I see some men to doubt and sticke vncertainely [L. addubitare & hœrere ancipites]. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xv. iv. 36 Who having read the same, sticking and doubting a good while what this should meane..returneth the..missives. 1677 Locke in P. King Life (1830) II. 164 But when we begin to think of..the beginning of either, our understanding sticks and boggles, and knows not which way to turn. 1730 T. Boston Mem. xii. 433 Sitting down to my studies on Friday, the Lord withdrew and I stuck. 1741 Watts Improv. Mind i. xvi. (1801) 126 If the chain of consequences be a little prolix, here they stick and are confounded. |
b. To be unable to proceed in narration or speech, through lapse of memory or embarrassment.
| 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 74 He stuck fast continually in the midst of his verse, and could goe no farther. 1612 J. Brinsley Lud. Lit. 258 If those..haue their notes lying open before them, to cast their eye vpon them here or there where they sticke. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. (1859) 170 He always stuck in the middle, everybody recollecting the latter part excepting himself. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xxxvii, He was only able to pronounce the words, ‘Saunders Souplejaw’—and then stuck fast. |
15. To hesitate, scruple, be reluctant or unwilling. Const.
to (do something). Only with negative. (Now
rare.)
| 1532 G. Hervet tr. Xenophon's Tr. Householde 61 For marchant men..wyll not stycke for daunger to passe any see what so euer it be. 1575 Gammer Gurton v. ii. 165 Yea, but he that made one lie about your cock-stealing, Wil not sticke to make another. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 25 Some will not sticke to sell you siluer gilt for gold. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. ii. 127 They will not sticke to say, you enuide him. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche xx. xcvii, Though I be Queen, I stick not to submit. 1712 Addison Spectator No. 451 ¶6, I..have not stuck to rank them with the Murderer and Assassin. 1827 De Quincey Murder Wks. 1854 IV. 4, I do not stick to assert, that any man who deals in murder, must have very incorrect ways of thinking. |
† b. To be grudging or stingy. Const.
for.
Obs.| 1533 Pardoner & Friar B iij, Fye on couetise, sticke nat for a peny. 1573 Baret Alv. S. 761 They will sticke for no labour, neque parcetur labori. 1625 Massinger New Way i. i, Tapwell. True, but they..had a gift to pay for what they call'd for, And stucke not like your mastership. |
16. Of a workman: To refuse to continue working, to strike.
local.
| 1851 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms, Northumb. & Durh. 52 Stick, to cease work, in order to obtain an increase, or prevent a reduction of wages, &c. |
III. To fix, cause to adhere.
17. trans. To fasten (a thing) in position by thrusting in its point.
| c 1290 Wolston 180 in S. Eng. Leg. 76 He wende forth..And nam þe croce wel mildeliche þare he stikede hire er so faste. c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §38 In centre of the compas stike an euene pyn or a whir vp-riht. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. xii. 356 Ther cannes styke; on hem sarmentis plie. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. vii. 56 Vnlesse you haue a cod-peece to stick pins on. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 186 Cloth..wherein I sticked needles. 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Pisum 6 M 2/2 You should stick some rough Boughs, or brush Wood, into the Ground close to the Peas, for them to ramp upon. 1742 Leoni Palladio's Archit. I. 85 Having by Engines stuck these pieces in the bottom of the River. a 1756 E. Haywood New Pres. (1771) 127 Then stick a skewer into it. 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 374 Stick a nail in the wall in the centre. 1907 J. A. Hodges Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6) 113 Stick the iron shoes [of a tripod] well into three good bungs. |
| fig. 1640 Fuller Joseph's Coat etc. 95 The wicked..have onely a superficiall hold in grace, rather sticked than rooted in it. |
b. To secure (a thing) by thrusting the end of it
in,
into,
behind,
through (a receptacle).
| 1664 Butler Hud. ii. i. 774 Quoth she, I grieve to see your Leg Stuck in a hole here like a Peg. 1818 Scott Rob Roy ii, A habit of sticking his pen behind his ear before he spoke. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola ii. xxii, A man..who had a small hatchet stuck in his belt. 1869 Trollope He knew etc. xxv, He was sitting, with a short, black pipe stuck into his mouth. |
c. To fasten by transfixion
to.
| 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. xviii. 11 And Saul had a iauelynge in his hande, and cast it, and thoughte: I wyll stycke Dauid fast to the wall. |
d. To fix on a point.
| c 1320 Sir Beues 828 And þe bor is heued of smot, And on a tronsoun of is spere Þat heued a stikede for to bere. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. viii. xxvi. 165 He commaunded..their right eyes to be stickt on the point of a bodkine, the apple, eye lidde and all, to be quite digged out. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. v. 273 In this Battel is Alpin takne;..heidet: stukne on a stake and borne to Camelodun his heid. 1670 Dryden Tyr. Love iii. i. 28 It first shall pierce my heart: We will be stuck together on his dart. 1755 Johnson, To Stick,..2 To fix upon a pointed body. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. (ed. 2) 106 Their heads were stuck upon spears, and led the procession. |
e. To set (an entomological specimen) by transfixing (it) with a pin.
| 1830 Darwin Life & Lett. I. 182, I have not stuck an insect this term. |
18. gen. To fasten in position; also in weaker sense, to place, set, put. Now chiefly, to place obtrusively, inappropriately, or irregularly. Also with
advs.,
down,
on, etc.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 157 Byndez byhynde,..boþe two his handez..; Stik hym stifly in stokez. Ibid. B. 583 Byþenk þe sum-tyme, Wheþer he þat stykked vche a stare in vche steppe yȝe, Ȝif [etc.]. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. xcviii. (1869) 53 Lady, quod j, seyth me..of these belles..why thei ben thus tacched and stiked in the skrippe. 1531 Tindale Exp. 1 John (1537) 30 Lyghtes were stycked before theyr memorials. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. i. xi. (1867) 35 As dyd the pure penitent that stale a goose And stack downe a fether. 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. xxix. 696 Some hold, that the branches or bowes of Rhamnus stickte at mens dores and windowes, do driue away Sorcerie. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iii. 199 A whitly wanton,..With two pitch bals stucke in her face for eyes. 1658 Bromhall Treat. Specters i. 70 As though she..were sticked in the bottom of a River to be drowned. 1697 Dryden æneis Ded. (e) 4 b, The Additions, I also hope, are easily deduc'd from Virgil's Sense. They will seem..not stuck into him, but growing out of him. 1819 Shelley Oed. Tyr. i. i. 301 Sticking cauliflowers Between the ears of the old ones. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xxviii, Trois-Eschelles stuck a torch against the wall to give them light. 1875 Helps Soc. Press. i. 5 Now let him make grand that commonplace word..by sticking that forcible article before it with a capital letter. 1909 A. M. N. Lyons Sixpenny Pieces ii. 19 Do you mind just putting a match to the gas stove and sticking a kettle on? |
b. To fasten as an adornment or garnishing. Also with
advs., as
about,
on,
up.
| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. i. 31, & styke þer-on Clowis, Maces, & Quybibis. 1591 A. W. Bk. Cookrye 25 b, When you serue him [a pheasant] in, stick one of his fethers vpon his brest. 1648 Gage West Ind. xii. 53 Many devout persons came and sticked in the dowy Image pretious stones. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 126 Hung it was..with threads tripartite..and some Cyprus-branches stuck about. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 291 Stick curled parsley in it. 1834 Dickens Sk. Boz, Steam Excurs., Planting immense bright bows on every part of a smart cap on which it was possible to stick one. 1850 Lowell Unhappy Mr. Knott 56 [A house] With Lord-knows-whats of round and square Stuck on at random everywhere. |
c. Joinery. To work (moulding, a bead) with a plane fashioned for that purpose.
Cf. strike v.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Rails, are narrow planks..upon which there is a moulding stuck. 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §983 The sashes to be 1 inch and three⁓quarters, stuck (worked) with astragal and hollow. 1842 Gwilt Archit. §2105 Mouldings..are generally wrought by hand; but when a plane is formed for them they are said to be stuck, and the operation is called sticking. Ibid. §2106 When a bead is stuck on the edge of a piece of stuff..the edge is said to be beaded... The beads..are sometimes stuck double and triple. 1902 R. Sturgis Dict. Archit. & Build., Stick, to run, strike, or shape with a moulding plane; by extension, to shape,..by the moulding mill. |
d. imp. (or in constructions with equivalent force) and followed by
up as a coarse expression of contemptuous rejection. Also
ellipt. Similarly
euphem. phr. stick it in your ear (
U.S.).
Cf. shove v.
1 10 e,
stuff v.
1 15 a.
| 1922 S. Lewis Babbitt xix. 240 Bad luck, old dear, and you can stick your job up the sewer! 1939 R. Stout Some Buried Caesar xi. 153 All right. Take your name and stick it up your chimney and go to hell. 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 71 Stick it!, a contemptuous ejaculation. 1948 D. Ballantyne Cunninghams xx. 105 He had a good mind to tell Basil Fisher to stick his run. 1960 Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang. 520/1 Stick it (something) up your (one's) ass (taboo),..the strongest reply to the question, ‘What shall I do with this?’ 1971 P. Driscoll White Lie Assignment ii. 20 If you do earn your thousand pounds you can stick it, d'you hear? Stick it right up where it belongs. I don't want a penny of it. 1973 Houston Chron. 21 Oct. 12/7 Members of the House are suggesting to members of the Senate that they take this idea and stick it in their ears. 1977 Daily Tel. 22 June 17/8 After the hearing Mr Jeeves said: ‘They can stick their cottage. I shall not move into it.’ |
19. To set (a surface)
with, to furnish or adorn with on the surface, to cover or strew with. Also with
advs., as
about,
over,
full.
| c 1300 Seyn Julian (1872) 142 Al were þe velion [of the wheel] aboute; wiþ rasours istiked faste. 1597 Beard Theatre God's Judgem. (1612) 234 Who..put him into a great Pipe stickt full of long nayles, and then rolled him downe. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iv. 56 My shrowd of white, stuck all with Ew, O prepare it. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 5 The Common Fly... Her body is..stuck all over with great black Bristles. 1687 Dryden Hind & Panther iii. 1047 With Garden-Gods, and barking Deities, More thick than Ptolomey has stuck the Skies. 1722 Diaper tr. Oppian's Halieut. i. 486 Sea-Urchins, who their native Armour boast, All stuck with Spikes, prefer the sandy Coast. 1780 Mirror No. 106 Not a walk but is stuck full of statues. 1867 Lowell FitzAdam's Story 48 As these bring home..Their hat-crowns stuck with bugs of curious make. 1890 Mrs. Kingscote Tales of Sun x. 125 She made a big ball of clay and stuck it over with what rice she had, so as to make it look like a ball of rice. 1893 Wiltshire Gloss., Stick, to decorate with evergreens, &c. ‘We allus sticks th' Church at Christmas’. |
b. Cookery. To set with a garnish.
| 1530 Palsgr. 735/2 Stycke your shoulder of mouton with herbes. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 654 Ber. A Lemmon. Lou. Stucke with Cloues. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Burning Pestle v. i, We will have..a good piece of beef, stuck with Rose-mary. 1673 Dryden Amboyna i. i, I would not let these English from this Isle have Cloves enough to stick an Orange with. |
c. fig.| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. ii. 8 Supposition, all our liues, shall be stucke full of eyes. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. Rev. & Conclus. 395 It is many times with a fraudulent Designe that men stick their corrupt Doctrine with the Cloves of other mens Wit. |
20. To cause to adhere; to fasten, fix, secure (a thing)
against,
on,
upon,
to (a surface) by means of an adhesive, pins, etc. Also said of the adhesive. Also
to stick down.
stick no bills: the usual form of the notice placed on a building forbidding placards to be posted upon it.
Cf. bill-sticker,
-sticking.
| c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 18382 For on her houses thei hadde stiked Certayn signes that wele were knowen. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 475/1 Stykyn, or festyn a thynge to a walle or a noþer þynge, wha so hyt be, figo, affigo, glutino. 1653 Walton Compl. Angler ii. 49 An honest Alehouse, where we shall find a cleanly room,..and twenty Ballads stuck about the wall. 1777 Cavallo Electricity 320 The innermost of these tubes has a spiral row of small round pieces of tin-foil, stuck upon its outside surface. 1807 Med. Jrnl. XVII. 356 It had bled a drop of blood, which coagulating, stuck his stocking to it. 1820 Shelley Witch of Atlas lxxiii, The priests would write an explanation full,..and bid the herald stick The same against the temple doors. 1851 Dickens Bill-sticking in Househ. Words 22 Mar. 604/2 The company had a watchman on duty night and day, to prevent us sticking bills upon the hoarding. 1862 Mrs. H. Wood Channings xix, He put the bank-note in [the letter], wet the gum, and stuck it down. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 4 After sticking the preparation on the cover-glass or slide. |
b. fig. To fasten (one's choice, opinion, an imputation, a nickname, dishonour, etc.)
on,
upon.
| 1601 Shakes. All's Well v. iii. 45 Admiringly my Liege, at first I stucke my choice vpon her. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone iii. ii, These imputations are too common, Sir, And eas'ly stuck on vertue, when shee's poore. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 330 His foul esteeme Sticks no dishonor on our Front, but turns Foul on himself. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy i, The nickname the neighbours stuck upon him was Handy Andy. |
† c. To post up (a notice or document).
Obs.| 1796 J. Gutch Wood's Hist. & Antiq. Univ. Oxf. II. 164 Thomas Greenway of that College [Corpus Christi] resigning his Presidentship, a Citation was stuck for the election of another to succeed him. |
† d. (? Hence,) Of a sheriff: To return (a jury). (See
return v. 16 b.
Cf. strike v.)
Obs. rare.
| 1688 T. Clarges in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 359 It is sayd the Master of the Office will stick the Jury and will name eight and forty. |
21. To bring to a stand, render unable to advance or retire. Chiefly in
pass. colloq.| 1829 Scott Anne of G. xxxii, Every man of us was at home among the crags, and Charles's men were stuck among them as thou wert. 1891 Morris in Mackail Life (1899) II. 265 Get Hooper to do the colophon before he goes off, as otherwise it might stick us. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 14 July 12/1 The way is easy to miss, and the climber may easily find himself ‘stuck’ on the face of a precipice. |
b. colloq. To pose, nonplus.
| 1876 [see cold a. 12 b]. 1884 Literary Era II. 158, I knew it all from beginning to end; you could not stick me on the hardest of them. 1893 Stevenson Catriona vi, You must not suppose the Government.. will ever be stuck for want of evidence. |
c. to be stuck for: to be at a loss how to obtain; to be unable to think of.
colloq.| 1937 in Partridge Dict. Slang. 1963 ‘J. le Carré’ Spy who came in from Cold iv. 32 ‘Who's Mr. Ironside?’.. ‘I don't think he exists... He's her big gun when she's stuck for an answer.’ 1965 A. J. P. Taylor Eng. Hist. 1914–45 viii. 267 The Conservatives were strong in resistance. They were stuck for a positive programme. 1969 Guardian 31 July 6/1 Any time you're stuck for a meal..come around. 1977 D. Beatty Excellency iv. 53 He might have discovered a snag..got stuck for some spare. |
22. Sc. To break down in (a speech, song, etc.); to fail to carry through (a business, etc.). Also,
† to cause a breakdown of (a speech).
| 1715 Pennecuik Tweeddale etc. Poems 34 A comely Body and a Face, Would make a Dominie stick the Grace. 1726 Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 254 Wilson..said warmly that the Commission had betrayed the rights of the Christian people. This drew a cry upon him to call him to the bar, where he was once before... This sticked his speech. 1782 Sir J. Sinclair Observ. Scot. Dial. 25 To stick any thing; to spoil any thing in the execution. 1829 Hogg Sheph. Cal. xxi. II. 315, I disdained to stick the tune, and therefore was obliged to carry on in spite of the obstreperous accompaniment. |
23. slang and
colloq. a. To cheat (a person) out of his money, to cheat or take in in dealing; to ‘saddle’
with something counterfeit or worthless in purchase or exchange.
Cf. strike v.
to be stuck with: to be saddled with, unable to get rid of (an unwanted person or thing).
orig. U.S.| 1699 E. S―cy Country Gentl. Vade M. 56 And so they draw him on from one set to another and from little Bets to great Ones (till they have stuck him, as they call it). 1843 Blackw. Mag. LIII. 81 They think it ungentlemanly to cheat, or, as they call it, ‘stick’ any of their own set. 1848 Bartlett Dict. Amer. 333 To take in; to impose upon; to cheat in trade. ‘I'm stuck with a counterfeit note;’ ‘He went to a horse sale, and got stuck with a spavined horse.’ 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 20/1 The pawnbrokers have been so often ‘stuck’ (taken in) with inferior instruments, that it is difficult to pledge even a really good violin. a 1860 Providence Jrnl. in J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 3) 458 We got stuck with a bad lot of paper, and were obliged to stick it on to our readers. 1900 M. H. Hayes Among Horses Russia Introd. 19 Has he [a horse-dealer] ever stuck you with a wrong one? 1943 F. J. Bell Condition Red iv. 47 So it was our coal, and we were stuck with it. 1959 W. Kennedy in M. Ross Arts in Canada 136/1 We architects of the mid-twentieth century seem to be stuck with the gods who made us—Gropius, Corbusier. 1962 E. O'Brien Lonely Girl iv. 36 He bought me a grey astrakhan with a red velvet collar, and a flared skirt. ‘I'm stuck with you now,’ he said..while he surveyed the coat from behind. 1972 Guardian 22 Mar. 16/2 Westminster..cannot apply a totally British solution to an Irish problem. But being stuck with it, the British Government has to try to muddle through. 1979 R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) 14 Emily hated being ‘petite’, which was a euphemism for getting stuck with all the short boys on blind dates. |
b. To induce to incur an expense or loss; to ‘let in’
for.
| 1895 J. G. Millais Breath fr. Veldt i. 2 [He] publishes his work (at his own expense) and sticks his friends for a copy. 1915 ‘A. Hope’ Young Man's Yr. 272, I'm awfully sorry I stuck you for such a lot. |
c. to stick it in or on: to make extortionate charges.
| 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxvii, In short, my good fellow, we stick it into B., up hill and down dale, and make a devilish comfortable little property out of him. 1853 Dickens etc. Househ. Words Christm. No. 1/1 How they do stick it into parents—particularly hair-cutting, and medical attendance. 1857 ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue 20 Sticking it on, deceiving or defrauding. |
d. to be stuck on (
slang,
orig. U.S.): to have one's mind or fancy set on, to be captivated with; also
esp., to be fond of, enamoured of, in love with.
| 1886 American XIII. 14 The latter's family so ridiculed him for having been ‘stuck’ on the canvas that he put it away. 1886 Lantern (New Orleans) 20 Oct. 3/2 Poor Charles Ernest is so stuck on a fairy named Emma Brown, that she can make him do anything she wishes. 1887 F. Francis Jun. Saddle & Mocassin 163 Turn 'em on to your range when the grass is green;..they get stuck on it then, and stop there. 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. x. 221 I'm not stuck on myself any just now—that's all. 1909 J. Masefield Tragedy of Nan i. 9 'Er father, as she's so stuck on—'E was 'ung. 1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock vii. ii. 295 I'd stake you a fiver she's straight. Why—you told me yourself—she's stuck on you. 1939 A. Huxley After Many a Summer ii. iii. 207 You'd say she was kind of stuck on the fellow. 1967 P. Shaffer Black Comedy 55, I don't mean that's why he popped the question... He's always been stuck on you. 1974 A. Lurie War between Tates (1977) vi. 128 Sandy, who was rather pathetically stuck on her for a while, took her to hear The Magic Flute. |
e. to get stuck into: to lay into, make a physical attack on (someone); to make a serious start on, get down to (a task, a meal, etc.). Hence
to get stuck in, to pitch in, get down to it.
colloq. (
orig. Austral.).
| 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 31 Get stuck into, to engage a person in a bout of fisticuffs. To tackle a job with a will. 1942 G. Casey It's harder for Girls 228 A bit o' peace..after you an' Winch nearly getting stuck into each other at the pub. 1948 C. Fry Thor with Angels 3 You get stuck Into some work, you whitebellied weasel. 1958 I. Cross God Boy xix. 160 Though arithmetic wasn't my best subject, I was quite glad at the idea of getting stuck into some figures. 1962 Observer 18 Feb. 23/4, I heard a terrific clanging downstairs and went down to see Pancho getting stuck into the gas meter with an iron bar. 1974 A. Morice Killing with Kindness iii. 31 He reached out a hand and promptly got stuck into his beloved evening paper. |
| 1948 S. Matthews Feet First x. 57, I have no time for that ‘get stuck in’ policy that is sometimes advised in cup-ties or local derbys. Once one side starts tackling with too much vigour there is inevitable retaliation and loss of tempers. 1959 G. Slatter Gun in my Hand v. 51 Gives us a hand sometimes on the mixer..Gets into his old mocker and gets stuck in. 1961 B. Crump Hang on a Minute, Mate 158 Mrs Wagner brought in two plates of food..and told them to get stuck in. 1971 Where Sept. 260/2 He flung out his arms like a Petticoat Lane trader, and got stuck in. In five minutes he had an audience. |
IV. Intransitive uses with prepositions.
24. stick at —.
a. To scruple at; to hesitate to accept or believe, to demur to, take exception to, be deterred by. (Chiefly used negatively.)
to stick at nothing: to be unscrupulous.
Cf. sense 15.
| 1525 Abp. Warham in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. I. 361 If they loved their Prince, they wold not sticke at this demaund. 1550 Bp. Day Ibid. Ser. iii. III. 303, I answered..that I stycked not att the alteration..of the matter (as stone or wode) wherof the Altar was made. 1615 Ralegh Prerog. Parl. (1628) Ded. (end), It is loue which obeyes,..which giues, which stickes at nothing. 1691 H. Consett Pract. Spir. Crts. (1700) To Rdr., Such time serving Wretches, as stick at no Extortion or Oppression. 1737 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 486, I shall Never Stick at any expence tho' it puts me into a thousand difficulties. 1741 Richardson Pamela III. 328 Who, she had too much reason to think, would stick at nothing to gain his Ends. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. viii. 174 He stuck at no injustice which was needed to carry out his purpose. 1884 Flor. Marryat Under the Lilies xxvii, Such women..who do not stick at telling a falsehood, will not hesitate to listen at a door. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xxii, A d—d scoundrel, who would stick at nothing in the way of villainy. |
b. To be impeded or brought to a stand at (a difficulty).
Cf. sense 14.
| 1620 Middleton Chaste Maid iv. i, He was eight yeeres in his Grammer, and stucke horribly at a foolish place there call'd Asse in presenti. 1688 Bunyan Heavenly Footman (1811) 6 They who will have heaven must not stick at any difficulties they meet with, but press, crowd, and thrust through all that may stand between heaven and their souls. c 1698 Locke Cond. Underst. §6 Wks. 1714 III. 397 Sometimes they [sc. young scholars] will stick a long time at a part of a Demonstration..for want of perceiving the Connection of two Ideas. 1773 Ld. Monboddo Lang. (1774) I. Pref. 9 This ingenious author..had not prosecuted it far, having stuck at this difficulty. |
25. stick by —.
a. To remain resolutely faithful to (a person) as a follower, partisan, or supporter.
| 1526 Tindale Luke xix. 48 The hye prestes and the scrybes..coulde nott fynde what to do for all the people stocke by hym And gave him audience. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. iii. 70 Shal. I thanke thee: the knaue will sticke by thee. 1716 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 157 To stick to the last extremity by them who were so unanimously engaged in my cause. 1852 Thackeray Esmond iii. x, But Swift..had this merit of a faithful partisan, that he..stuck by Harley bravely in his fall. |
† b. Of a thing: To remain with, cling to (a person); to remain in (a person's) memory.
Obs.| 1533 More Apol. xxxvi. 196 Wythout any greate hurte that afterwarde sholde stycke by them. 1628 Prynne Love-Lockes 52 This Beautie will sticke by vs, and continue with vs for all eternitie. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. i. 54 The remembrance of which will stick by me as long as I live. 1708 Pope Let. H.C. 18 Mar. Lett. (1735) 77 At present I am satisfy'd to trifle away my Time any Way, rather than let it stick by me; as Shop-keepers are glad to be rid of those Goods [etc.]. 1770 C. Jenner Placid Man I. i. vii. 42 Norris had met with some disappointment which stuck by him. |
c. To keep resolutely to, hold to, be constant to (a principle, one's word). Now
rare.
| 1646 R. Baillie Lett. & Jrnls. (1841) II. 371 We shall be honest, and sticke by our Covenant... Hitherto we have stucke by our principles in many great and long tentations. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. iv. iv, He sticks by the Washington-formula; and by that he will stick. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xx, He knew what a savage, determined man Osborne was, and how he stuck by his word. 1869 Tennyson North. Farmer, New Style xv, Thim's my noätions, Sammy, wheerby I means to stick. |
† d. To keep persistently to, continue at (some business or operation).
Obs.| 1556 Robinson tr. More's Utopia (Arb.) 139 And therfore if the other part sticke so harde by it, that the battel come to their handes, it is fought with great slaughter and blodshed. 1821 Scott Kenilw. i, On Friday, he stuck by the salt beef and carrot, though there were..good spitchcock'd eels. 1829 ― Anne of G. xiii, Have the peasant-clods..stuck by the flask till cock-crow? |
26. stick to —. (Also
† unto —.)
† a. To cling to for support.
Obs.| 1534 Goodly Prymer N v b, They that stycke to the lord [Vulg. qui confidunt in Domino] shal neuer stacker. 1538 Bale God's Promises A iv, Pater cœlestis [to Adam]. Than wyll I tell the, what thu shalt stycke vnto, Lyfe to recouer. 1586–7 Queen Elizabeth in Scoones Four C. Eng. Lett. (1880) 31 My stable amitie; from wiche, my deare brother, let no sinistar whisperars..persuade to leave your surest, and stike to unstable staies. |
b. To remain resolutely faithful or attached to (a person or party), not to desert. Now chiefly
colloq.| 1535 Coverdale Prov. xviii. 24 A frende..doth a man more frendship, and sticketh faster vnto him then a brother. 1536 Act 28 Hen. VIII, c. 7 §9 And holly to styck to them, as true and faithfull subjectes ought to doo to their regall rulers. 1563 Gresham in Burgon Life (1839) II. 34 Praying you now (as my trust ys in God and you,) that you will stycke unto me. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 680 When the Kings Cause declined he stuck close to the said family. a 1715 Burnet Own Time ii. (1724) I. 200 He promised to all the Earl of Midletouns friends that he would stick firm to him. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. iv. 209 Under Rolf, Normandy had stuck faithfully to the King. 1885 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ Valerie's Fate vi, But I should have stuck to him through thick and thin. |
† c. To give one's adhesion to (a doctrine, cause, etc.).
Obs.| 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John xi. 45–8 When they had seene so notable a miracle, they beleued y{supt} Jesus was Messias, and stacke to his doctrine. 1644 Milton Divorce i. (ed. 2) 4 Many points..likely to remain intricate and hopelesse upon the suppositions commonly stuck to. 1665 Glanvill Def. Van. Dogm. To Albius (a 3), The way to bring men to stick to nothing, being confidently to perswade them, to swallow all things. |
d. To adhere, keep or hold to (an argument, demand, resolve, opinion, bargain, covenant, and the like); to refuse to renounce or abandon; to persist in.
| 1525 Sampson in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. II. 26 Th' Emperor havyng his enemy in his hande made the best argument that could be, and to suche argument must he styk if he entende to get any thing. 1655 tr. Sorel's Com. Hist. Francion iii. 67 Being a man that stuck to his resolves. a 1688 Bunyan Israel's Hope Encour. Wks. (1692) 220/2 The Word Redemption, therefore must be well understood, and close stuck to. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iv. vi, Let us stick to our point, and we will manage Bull, I'll warrant ye! 1822 Hazlitt Men & Manners Ser. ii. vi. (1869) 135, I like a person who knows his own mind and sticks to it. 1887 Lang Myth, Ritual & Relig. I. vi. 179 The old men do not know... But they stick to it that ‘that bed of reeds still exists.’ 1887 E. A. Freeman in Life and Lett. (1895) II. 368, I stick tight to Gladstone's best proposal, to clear the Irishry out of Westminster. |
e. To refuse to be enticed, led or turned from; to attend unremittingly to (an occupation, course of action, work, etc.).
| a 1548 Hall Chron. Hen. VII. 10 The Iryshemen, although they foughte hardely and stucke to it valyauntly, yet..they were stryken downe and slayne. 1552 Latimer Serm., Septuagesima (1584) 327 b, And therefore let vs sticke hard vnto it, and bee content to forgoe all the pleasures and riches of this world for his sake. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iv. ii. 10 Sticke to your Iournall course: the breach of Custome, Is breach of all. 1612 J. Brinsley Lud. Lit. 11 They being nuzled vp in play abroad, are very hardly reclaimed and weaned from it, to sticke to their bookes indeede. 1662 H. Newcome Diary (Chetham Soc.) 112 Fell to my studdy on Ecles. xii. 1, and stucke to it allmost all day. 1720 Mrs. Manley Power of Love (1741) IV. 279 She was obliged to stick close to her needle, and not stir out of her Chamber. 1821 J. W. Croker in C. Papers 5 June (1884) He..would advise him to stick to his law. 1874 Blackie Self-Cult. 76, I never knew a man good for anything in the world, who, when he got a piece of work to do, did not know how to stick to it. 1877 ‘H. A. Page’ De Quincy II. xvi. 7 His incapacity to stick to work was increased by his nervous dread of putting others to inconvenience. |
f. To keep exclusively to (a subject of discourse or study, an employment, etc.). Phr.
to stick to one's text. Also
to stick to one's last (with allusion to the proverb: see
last n.1 2 c).
| 1711 Addison Spect. No. 66 ¶5 The Boy I shall consider upon some other Occasion, and at present stick to the Girl. 1795 Burke Let. Hussey Corr. (1844) IV. 317 Lord Fitzwilliam sticks nobly to his text, and neither abandons his cause or his friends. 1880 Sala in Illustr. Lond. News 4 Dec. 539 Still I stick to my text as regards champagne and raki imbibing among the upper classes in Turkey. 1927 Galsworthy Castles in Spain 92 Conrad had always a great regard for..workmen who stuck to their last and did their own jobs well. 1939 A. Powell What's become of Waring? viii. 227, I don't know why he wanted to meddle with writing at all. It wasn't his avocation. He should stick to his last. 1956 A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Attitudes i. i. 19 You're not a member of the University Press Syndic... Stick to your last. |
g. To keep exclusively to the use of (a particular article, kind of food or the like).
| 1815 Scott Guy M. xxi, I must stick to the flageolet, for music is the only one of the fine arts which deigns to acknowledge me. 1879 F. W. Robinson Coward Consc. i. viii, Thank-you, I'll stick to the claret. 1907 J. A. Hodges Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6) 125 The beginner should select one particular make, and stick to it. |
h. To remain by or in (a place, etc.); to refuse to desert or leave.
to stick to one's colours: see
colour n. 7 d.
to stick to one's guns: see
gun n. 6 b.
| 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xxiv. vii. 249 The Persians sticking close to their walls,..assayed to checke..our deadly violence. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 103 The rains came on, and made me stick close to my first Habitation. 1853 Reade Love me Little I. viii. 231 While she [a boat] floats they stick to her. 1898 F. D. How Bp. Walsham How xxii. 313 He felt that this was an additional reason for sticking to his post. |
i. To follow closely (an original, etc.).
| 1548 Udall etc. Erasm. Par. Mark ii. 6– 12 The vulgar people..who whyles they stacke harde to the litterall sence of Moses lawe, were farre from the spirite and true mening thereof. 1612 J. Brinsley Lud. Lit. 157 The sense & drift of the Latine Author is principally to be obserued, and not the phrase nor propriety of the tongue, to bee so much sought to bee expressed or stucken vnto. 1697 Vanbrugh æsop Pref., For I confess in the Translation, I have not at all stuck to the Original. |
j. To keep close to (in a pursuit or race).
lit. and
fig.| 1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting ii. 56, I..singled out the largest bull. Crafty and Billy stuck to him like leeches. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xviii. v. (1872) VII. 189 Our hussars stuck to him, chasing him into Ostritz. 1879 H. C. Powell Amateur Athletic Ann. 19 Crossley had all his work cut out to win, as A. S. Smith..stuck closely to him all the way. |
k. To keep possession of, refuse to part with.
| a 1660 Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) II. 162 Major Charles..did call for Colonell Moore, bidinge him to leade that horse as proper colonell, which he did and left, Dungan stikinge onely to one or two troupes. 1704 Cibber Careless Husb. iii. i. 22 Sir Cha. If you keep your Temper she's Undone. L. Mo. Provided she sticks to her Pride, I believe I may. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset xxxvii, She'll stick to every shilling of it till she dies. 1884 Chr. World 12 June 442/5 A bishop of Antioch, deposed and excommunicated, chose to stick to the church-buildings. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. I. xx. 283 Congress..may request the President to dismiss him, but if his master stands by him and he sticks to his place, nothing more can be done. |
27. stick with —.
† a. To side persistently with.
Obs.| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. (1812) I. clxxxv. 219 And ther he..promysed the duke to stycke with hym in good and yuell. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 281 Because thei had taken parte and sticked hard with the enemies of Sylla [L. quod hostium partibus adhæsissent]. |
† b. To persist in arguing with, haggle with.
Obs.| 1530 Tindale Answ. More's Dial. iv. xi. Wks. (1572) 332/2 He saith, ‘it is euident..that a man..may geue..his body to burne for the name of Christ, & al without charitie.’ Wel I will not sticke with hym: he may so do [etc.]. 1626 B. Jonson Staple of N. iii. ii, P. Iv. For that I'll beare the charge: There's two Pieces. Fit. Come, do not stick with the gentleman. 1651 Baxter Inf. Bapt. 179, I will not stick with you for the phrase of Speech, when the thing is the same. |
† c. To be incredible or unacceptable to.
Obs.| 1643 Prynne Sov. Power Parlt. iii. 140 Because this objection stickes most with many Schollars,..I shall endeavour to give a satisfactory answer to it. 1719 Waterland Vind. Christ's Div. 216 The principal Thing which stuck with Him [sc. Arius], was..the strict Eternity or Co-eternity of the Son. 1816 Scott Old Mort. Concl., Lady Margaret was prevailed on to countenance Morton, although the old Covenanter, his father, stuck sorely with her for some time. |
† d. To remain painfully in the memory of.
Obs.| 1626 Bacon Sylva §997 The Going away of that, which had staid so long, doth yet sticke with mee. 1666 Bunyan Grace Abound. §148 And this [fear of eternal damnation] stuck always with me. |
e. To adhere to (an account, plan, etc.); to be faithful to, support.
| 1915 J. London Jacket iv. 28 Stick with it. Don't ever let'm know. 1958 M. L. King Stride toward Freedom vii. 127 We would stick with them through their difficulties. ‘We must remain together,’ we kept repeating. 1976 M. Machlin Pipeline xlviii. 505 ‘I've known all along it was a Goddamn fool plan.’.. ‘Then why have you stuck with it so long?’ |
V. Idiomatic uses with adverbs.
Many of the
intrans. uses below serve as more colloquial variants of the corresponding phrases of
stand, sometimes with added notion of persistence, obtrusiveness, or the like.
28. stick around.
intr. To wait, remain in the vicinity, not to go away.
colloq. (
orig. N. Amer.).
| 1912 J. Sandilands Western Canad. Dict. & Phrasebk., Stick around, wait about, hang around, or loaf around. The Canadian sport will stick around in the expectation of meeting the boys and having a good time. 1915 S. Lewis Trail of Hawk iii. 28 Stick around, son, and sit in any time, and I'll learn you some pool. 1919 E. Jordan Girl in Mirror iv. 79 I'm going to ‘stick around’, and guide them for a few days. 1943 P. Cheyney You can always Duck vi. 99 ‘I'm givin' no guarantees,’ I tell her. ‘But maybe I'll stick around. We'll see. So long, honey.’ 1959 ‘S. Ransome’ I'll die for You ix. 109 You stick around, Mr. Fisher, where I can find you when I want you? 1979 A. Fox Threat Warning Red xvi. 248 You'll be asked to come over here next week..and you'll have to stick around for a day or two. |
† 29. stick away.
trans. To hide away.
Obs.| 1575 Gammer Gurton i. iv. 4 For these and ill luck togather..Haue stacke away my deare neele, and robd me of my ioye. |
30. stick down. (See simple senses and
down adv.)
† trans. To fasten by its point; to plant (a spear, stake, etc.) by driving (its point) into the ground.
| 1581 A. Hall Iliad vi. 111 His iaueline right he sticketh down with words ful curteously, And friendly cheere he thus begins. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Stat. William c. 27. 7 Bot that battell may be swa remitted: that is, quhen they haue sticken downe their speres; the defender may grant the fault. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. Let. Marlborough 80 If..the Lord Mayor appoint his Water-Bailiff..to see a Stake stuck down, beyond which the Repairers of the Wharf shall not proceed. |
31. stick in.
a. trans. To insert;
Sc. to plant (a tree).
| 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. viii, Jock, when ye hae naething else to do, ye may be aye sticking in a tree. 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 341 In order to point out the stools or stocks..the stem of every tree may be stuck in within an inch or two of its root-stock. |
b. intr. To remain obstinately in (an office, a community); to refuse to leave, go out, or resign.
| 1848 Newman Loss & Gain iii. iv. 321 If they were [honest], then, as the Puseyites are becoming Catholics, so we should see old Brownside and his clique becoming Unitarians. But they mean to stick in. 1894 Labouchere in Daily News 21 Apr. 5/6, I have had..a sufficient experience of governments to know how they stick in. |
c. Sc. To persevere.
| 1887 A. S. Swan Gates of Eden iv, Yer wark's honest..an' if ye stick in, ye're bound to dae weel. 1895 W. C. Fraser Whaups of Durley vi. 73 Stick in wi' your lessons. |
32. stick off.
intr. and trans. † To show to advantage.
Obs.| 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 168 Ile be your foile Laertes, in mine ignorance, Your Skill shall like a Starre i' th' darkest night, Sticke fiery off indeede. 1614 Chapman Masque Inns of Court A 3, The humble variety whereof [sc. of the torchbearers' habits], stucke off the more amplie, the Maskers high beauties. |
33. stick out.
a. intr. To jut out, project, protrude.
| 1567 Golding Ovid's Met. iii. 83 The Iaueling steale that sticked out. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. x. 86 Nose, eares, or any other part of the bodie sticking out. 1679 Shadwell True Widow i. i. 4 He changed his Taylor twice, because his Shoulder-Bone sticks out. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 230 In which wire is a pointed short pin, sticking out horizontally. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework s.v. Spines, Long straight points that stick out from the edge of the Cordonnet. 1886 J. K. Jerome Idle Thoughts 5 What did it matter to him if his toes did stick out of his boots? |
b. To be prominent or conspicuous. Also in various phrases,
esp. to stick out a mile.
to stick out like a sore thumb: see
sore a. 9
f. colloq.| 1638 Junius Paint. Ancients 15 Though we cannot mount up to the highest top of perfection, yet it is something for all that to sticke out above the rest in the second and third place. 1902 Daily Chron. 9 Dec. 3/3 ‘Of her’ is all very well now and then, but when it occurs too often it ‘sticks out,’ as Mr. Henry James would say. 1933 E. Waugh Scoop ii. i. 119 ‘Have you noticed it?’ ‘Yes..it sticks out a mile.’ 1949 [see road sign s.v. road n. 9 b]. 1952 M. Allingham Tiger in Smoke i. 16 You couldn't miss him. He stuck out like a lighthouse. 1977 ‘H. Carmichael’ Grave for Two iv. 48 ‘You're saying she's left him.’.. ‘Sticks out a mile.’ |
c. To persist in resistance; to hold out; also, to remain out on strike. Also,
to stick it out, to endure something to the end (
cf. 7 c).
colloq.| 1682 Lond. Gaz. No. 1741/3 When the design..is made publick, several others will contribute, and none..who wish well to the Town will stick out. 1818 Todd, To stick out, to refuse compliance. 1845 Disraeli Sybil vi. viii, As long as you can give us money, I don't care..how long we stick out. 1882 ‘Mark Twain’ Let. 17 May (1917) I. 419, I have promised Osgood, and must stick it out. 1886 Stevenson Dr. Jekyll i, He would have clearly liked to stick out; but..at last he struck. 1889 ‘Mark Twain’ Conn. Yank. xxvi. 334 The properties required me to stick it out. 1901 ‘L. Malet’ Sir R. Calmady vi. vii, It would be ridiculous to fly, so she must stick it out. 1914 G. B. Shaw Misalliance 17, I really couldnt stick it out with Jerry, mother. 1929 J. B. Priestley Good Companions iii. ii. 509 If you went, I'm durned sure I couldn't stick it out another week. 1981 P. P. Read Villa Golitsyn i. vi. 41 He stuck it out for a week and then shinnied down a drainpipe. |
d. To be a stickler
for.
rare. (
Cf. stick up, 35 b.)
| 1862 Mrs. H. Wood Channings xlix, Nobody sticks out for politeness more than Carrick. |
e. To maintain, persist in asserting (
that).
to stick one out: to maintain against one; to persist in an opinion in spite of all one's argument.
colloq.| 1904 R. Hichens Woman with Fan iii, Do you stick out that Carey didn't love you? 1910 A. Bennett Clayhanger i. vii. 49 She would not hear a word about the toast being a little hard... Maggie..‘stuck her out’ that the toast was in fact hard. 1915 F. M. Hueffer Good Soldier iv. i. 224 That checked Florence a bit; but she fell back upon her ‘heart’ and stuck out that she had merely been conversing with Edward. 1916 A Bennett Lion's Share vii. 53, I knew he was going to be ill when I left him in the cabin, but he stuck me out he wasn't. |
f. To persist in one's demand
for.
colloq.| 1902 Cornhill Mag. July 55 Th' old leech was only sticking out for every brass farthing he could get. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 28 Dec. 2/1 It is to be hoped that when the new boundary is determined we shall ‘stick out’ (if the expression be permitted) for the whole of Ruwenzori. |
g. trans. Naut. (See
quot. 1815.)
| 1815 Falconer's Dict. Marine (ed. Burney), Stick out the Cable! the order to slacken and push it out at the hawse⁓hole, when the anchor is hauling up to the cat-head, &c. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle xii, Stick out the warp, let her swing to her anchor. |
h. In
pass., to be adorned too lavishly, ‘tricked out’ (with jewels).
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa VI. 53 They were richly dressed, and stuck out with jewels. |
i. to stick one's neck out: see
neck n.1 3 e.
34. stick together.
intr. a. Of things: to adhere one to another, to cleave or cling together.
| 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus Cc iv b, Good counsell and affection agre like iron and clay, which by no meanes can be brought to sticke together. 1677 Miege Dict. Eng. Fr. s.v., To stick together like burs. 1687 Ibid. ii. s.v., Atoms that stick together, and are as it were a continued Body. a 1732 Gay Songs & Ball., New Song xviii, Let us like burs together stick. |
b. Of persons, etc.: to keep together; chiefly
fig., to make common cause.
| 1560 Pilkington Expos. Aggeus E ij, To teach vs..that they should loue & sticke together like brethren. 1595 Shakes. John iii. iv. 67. 1619 Drayton Ballad Agincourt 80 None from his fellow starts, But..like true English hearts, Stuck close together. 1680 Sir J. Scot in Reg. Privy Council Scot. Ser. iii. VI. 576 Let us..sticke togither and positively refuse and..it shall not carry. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. vii. Wks. 1755 V. ii. 146 Nature hath instructed even a brood of goslings to stick together, while the kite is hovering over their heads. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. iii. 46 While we live we will stick together: one fate shall belong to us all. 1883 Stevenson Treas. Isl. vi, Jim and I shall stick together in the meanwhile. |
35. stick up.
a. intr. To stand out from a surface; to project.
† Of the hair: to stand on end.
| 1422 Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. 230 Who-so hath the browes stikkynge vp anent the noose into the templis in euery syde, bene foolis:..tho wyche bene a-dred haue hare lokkis stickynge vp. 1611 Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl iv. ii, Goshawke goes in a shag-ruffe band, with a face sticking vp in't, which showes like an agget set in a crampe ring. 1805 C. Stower Typogr. Marks 7 Where a space sticks up between two words, it is noticed by a perpendicular line in the margin. 1902 V. Jacob Sheep-Stealers xi, The toll-gate..had not yet been re-erected, and the bare posts stuck dismally up at the wayside. |
b. to stick up for: to defend the cause of, to champion.
colloq. (
Cf. stand up for stand v. 103 o.)
| 1837 Lowell Lett. (1894) I. 20, I shall always like him [Whittier] the better for ‘sticking up’ for old New England. 1887 Poor Nellie (1888) 115 The ‘Times’ always does stick up for the moral of everything. |
c. dial. To make love
to.
| c 1850 ‘Dow, Jr.’ in Jerdan Yankee Hum. (1853) 85, I will..stick up to them, so long as there is anything sticky in the first principles of love. 1858 A. Mayhew Paved with Gold ii. xvi, It soon became known to the ladies..that the captain ‘was sticking up to {oqq}Miss{cqq}’. 1899 Caroline Gearey Rural Life x. 237, I doan't like ter see..a boy of sixteen sticking up to a gal. |
d. To offer resistance
to.
colloq.| 1843 Cracks abt. Kirk i. 2 (E.D.D.), I am but a plain weaver, and no fit to argue wi' the Dominie, tho' I carena about stickin' up tae Will. 1889 Contemp. Rev. Feb. 173 No matter how excellent may be the original disposition of the head boy, if there is no one who dare stick up to him, he soon becomes intolerable. |
e. To hold one's ground in argument.
colloq.| 1858 Darwin Life & Lett. (1887) II. 110, I admired the way you stuck up about deduction and induction. |
f. To claim or give oneself out
to be.
Cf. set up (
set v.
1 154 nn).
colloq.| 1881 Blackmore Christowell xxxiv, I never knew any good come of those fellows who stick up to be everything wonderful. |
† g. trans. To tuck up.
Obs.| c 1330 Amis. & Amil. 988 He stiked vp his lappes tho; In his way he gan to go. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 475/1 Stykkyn, or tukkyn vp cloþys, suffarcino, succingo. Ibid. 504/2 Tukkyn vp, or stykkyn vp, suffarcino. |
h. To set up in position, to set up (a stake, etc.) on its own point, or (a head, body) by impalement.
| 1530 Tindale Answ. More's Dial. ii. ix. Wks. (1572) 298/2 The Israelites..neither prayed to hym..nor sticked vppe candels before hym. 1535 Coverdale 1 Chron. x. 10 His weapens layed they in the house of their god, and styckte vp his heade vpon the house of Dagon. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 87 The skilfull shepheard pil'd me certaine wands,..And stucke them vp before the fulsome Ewes. 1608 Dod & Cleaver Expos. Prov. ix–x. 78 His heart is not as..a stake that is sticked up, which euery hand may plucke awry. 1657 N. Billingsley Brachy-Martyrol. i. 3 With his keen javelin, spirit-haunted Saul Assay'd to stick up David 'gainst the wall. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. vii. xiii. 21 Stick up in the Vertical Line two Pins of equal height. 1772 Foote Nabob 11, [You] only wanted a wife to..stick up in your room, like any other fine piece of furniture? 1850 Lowell Unhappy Mr. Knott 28 ‘The woodland I've attended to’; (He meant three pines stuck up askew). 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 219 As most photographers never do anything but ‘stick it up’ and ‘fire away.’ |
| fig. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxvii, We should then find that wretches, now stuck up for long tortures, lest luxury should feel a momentary pang, might..serve to sinew the state. |
i. To affix or post (a sheet, bill, or the like).
| 1788 Franklin Autobiog. Wks. 1840 I. 122 It was reprinted on a large sheet of paper, to be stuck up in houses. 1821 Act 1 & 2 Geo. IV, c. 44 § 65 The Company..shall..affix and stick up..upon every Stop-gate..an Account or List of the several Rates of Tonnage. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt xxviii, You should be on the look-out when Debarry's side have stuck up fresh bills, and go and paste yours over them. |
j. colloq. To place (a charge) in a tavern-score;
gen. to put down to one's debit in an account.
| 1865 Chamb. Jrnl. 11 Feb. 82/1 The means to get drunk, too, were obtained by all manner of contrivances. Some would ‘stick it up’ till Saturday night. 1874 Slang Dict. 310 Stick it up to me, i.e., give me credit for it. |
k. orig. Austral. To stop and rob on the highway; also, simply, to rob (a station, bank, etc.). Also
transf. to demand alms from (a person). Also, (
Criminals' slang) of the police: to hold up (a suspect).
Cf. hold up hold v. 44 e.
| 1846 J. L. Stokes Discov. in Australia II. xiii. 502 It was only the previous night that he had been ‘stuck up’, with a pistol at his head. 1881 A. C. Grant Bush Life Queensland xi. (1882) 116 [The blacks] stuck up Wilson's station there, and murdered the man and woman in the kitchen. 1904 ‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings xvii. 302, I couldn't take it with me, not knowing but what the monkeys might stick me up. 1926 J. Black You can't Win vii. 81 Anyway we'll sure be stuck up and frisked at Evanston. 1971 Black Scholar Sept. 32/2 It was the night he, Shotgun and Big Daddy stuck up the policy clearing house. 1978 S. Brill Teamsters iii. 76 They had served time for sticking up a variety store in Akron, Ohio. |
l. Austral. To hinder from proceeding (on a journey, in work or in any proceeding); hence to puzzle, nonplus.
| 1863 S. Butler First Yr. Canterb. Settlement v. 68 At last we came to a waterfall... This ‘stuck us up’, as they say here concerning any difficulty. 1887 Horsley Jottings fr. Jail 11 Now don't stick me up (disappoint); meet me at six to-night. 1890 Melbourne Argus 7 June 4/2 We are stuck up for an hour or more, and can get a good feed over there. 1897 Australasian 2 Jan. 33/1 (Morris) The professor seems to have stuck up any number of candidates with the demand that they should construct [etc.]. 1915 ‘A. Hope’ Young Man's Yr. 299 We were absolutely stuck up for the rest of the money—couldn't go on without it, and didn't know where to get it. |
m. Austral. To bring (an animal) to bay.
| 1884 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Old Melbourne Mem. iii. (1896) 24 We heard Violet's bark... We knew then that she had ‘stuck up’ or brought to bay a large forester [kangaroo]. 1888 D. Macdonald Gum Boughs 15 The fiercest fighter [kangaroo] I ever saw ‘stuck up’ against a red gum tree. |
† n. Cricket. To put a batsman on the defensive.
Obs.| 1864 Baily's Mag. Sept. 297 Grundy and Wootton..put every batsman on the defensive, stuck them up, man after man, over after over,..and then sent each back to the Pavilion. 1891 W. G. Grace Cricket ix. 243 There are some bowlers who, by their wonderful accuracy of length, stick up the batsmen and get wickets on the most perfect grounds. 1904 P. F. Warner How we recovered Ashes v. 70 Rhodes stuck up all the batsmen, with the exception of Trumper. |
o. In
phr. stick 'em up: an (armed) robber's order to his victim to raise his hands above his head;
= hands up! s.v. hand n. 55. Usu.
imp. slang (
orig. U.S.). (
Cf. put them (or
'em)
up (ii)
s.v. put v.
1 53 a (e).)
| 1931 [see reach v.1 12 c]. 1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock v. iii. 203 The children were scouting among the rubble with pistols from Woolworth's... Someone said in a high treble: ‘Stick 'em up.’ 1972 Wodehouse Pearls, Girls, & Monty Bodkin vi. 76 Sequences of spine-chilling drama, with people telling other people to stick 'em up and prodding them in the stomach with pistols. |
VI. 36. The verb-stem in combination:
stick-all, a cement for mending all kinds of articles; also
spec., toffee; also
transf.;
stick-bomb = sticky bomb s.v. sticky a.
2 5 a;
stick-culture, a bacterial culture made by thrusting a platinum needle into the culture-medium (
Cent. Dict. 1891);
† stickdirt, a term of abuse;
stick-fast n. † (
a)
= sit-fast n. 1 (
obs.); (
b) an act of sticking in the mud, mire, etc.; (
c) one who or something which becomes grounded;
adj. that causes travellers to become mired;
stick-jaw colloq., a pudding or sweetmeat difficult of mastication; also
attrib. and
transf.;
stick-knife, a butcher's sticking knife; also
dial. a large pocket knife;
stick-pin U.S., any (ornamental) pin that is merely stuck in (as distinguished from a safety pin),
esp. a tie-pin; also
attrib.; hence
stick-pinned ppl. a.;
stick-seed, a plant of the genus
Echinospermum, the seeds of which are furnished with hooked adhesive prickles;
stick-slip, alternate movement and cessation of movement of one surface over another as a result of frictional forces;
freq. attrib.;
sticktight, (
a) a composite weed,
Bidens frondosa, whose flat achenia bear two barbed awns; also one of the seeds (
Cent. Dict.); (
b) in full,
sticktight flea; a small flea,
Echidnophaga gallinicea, which infests poultry;
stickwater, the liquid that is squeezed out when cooked fish are compressed during the manufacture of fish meal and fish oil;
stickweed U.S., the Ragweed,
Ambrosia artemisiæfolia (Britton & Brown
Illustr. Flora North. U.S., 1898).
| 1880 Spon's Encycl. Industr. Arts etc. ii. 628 ‘*Stick-all’..is a solution of silicate of potash... It will securely unite fragments of stone, marble, wood, &c. |
| 1943 J. H. Fullarton Troop Target xxiv. 175 Along comes a Jerry tank. Kiwi goes in with *stick bombs. Jerry hops out with his shirt-tail alight. Kiwi shoots him. 1971 ‘A. Hall’ Warsaw Document viii. 89 The main doors breached with five stick-bombs. |
| a 1585 Montgomerie Flyting w. Polwart 117 False strydand *stickdirt, I's gar thee stincke. |
| 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. xliii. 285 Of the *Stickfast, Hornes, or hard bones growing vnder the saddle. 1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting iv. 110 After..a couple of stick-fasts, got on to the missionaries. 1887 C. H. Richards in Gladden Parish Probl. 312 But when the tide rises,..these stick-fasts and waverers are easily brought into the harbor. |
| 1819 Sporting Mag. V. 93 And dash and plunge through Belvoir's *stick-fast vale. |
| 1829 C. A. Southey Chapters on Churchyards II. 23 Their Saturdays commons of scrap-pie and *stick-jaw. 1894 R. Wells Toffy & Sweets 14 Stick-jaw. 1894 Sat. Rev. 3 Mar. 234 There are plums to be found even in the most stickjaw pudding. 1932 L. Golding Magnolia Street ii. v. 352 Hush, Annie, hush! Here's some stick-jaw! 1938 Auden & Isherwood On Frontier iii. ii. 108 Gone to a demonstration, I suppose, to shout stickjaw slogans with the rest. 1950 ‘R. Crompton’ William—the Bold i. 13 ‘Look! There's some real stick-jaw toffee,’ said Henry. |
| 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxiv. 302 An old razor, not so decent-looking nor so sharp as a tolerably good *stick knife. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Stick-knife, a large pocket-knife. |
| 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 172 Fine solid gold scarf and *stick pins. 1906 ‘O. Henry’ in N.Y. World Mag. 18 Dec. 2/2 He wore his tie drawn through a topaz ring instead of fastened with a stick pin. 1928 ‘S. S. Van Dine’ Greene Murder Case v. 64, I was only looking for that old emerald stick-pin you borrowed and never returned. 1973 M. R. Crowell Greener Pastures 132 A dapper tree sparrow, dark stickpin spot on his soft gray breast. |
| 1847 Darlington Amer. Weeds 244 Echinospermum, Swartz. *Stickseed. |
| 1939 Proc. R. Soc. A. CLXIX. 378 The friction is fluctuating violently, and the measurement again shows that the motion is proceeding by a process of ‘*stick-slip’. 1940 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. CCXXXIX. 1 Certain substances..are able to prevent this ‘stick-slip’ motion and allow continuous sliding to take place. 1958 Engineering 14 Mar. 339/2 The movement of the ram is completely free from ‘stick-slip’ phenomena because of the small but significant clearance between piston and cylinder. 1959 Times 13 Oct. 4/4 This ‘stick-slip’ as it is called can make the steering stiff to move initially. 1975 McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 21/2 The jerky motion happens because—under the pressure and temperature conditions of the shallow part of the Earth's lithosphere—rock exhibits a property known as stick⁓slip. |
| 1884 W. Miller Plant-n. 11 Beggar Ticks, or *Stick-tight, Bidens frondosa. 1915 F. C. Bishopp Fleas as Pests (U.S.D.A. Farmers Bull. 683) 7 The sticktight flea, or southern chicken flea,..the most important of our live-stock infesting species. 1955 W. W. Denlinger Compl. Boston ii. 77 These sticktights abound in neglected..chicken houses. 1962 Gordon & Lavoipierre Entomol. for Students of Med. xxxv. 218 Another species of burrowing flea,..the so-called ‘sticktight flea’, on rare occasions attacks man. |
| 1915 Rep. U.S. Comm. Fisheries 1914 App. III. 25 An apparatus for evaporating the water which is separated from the oil and known as ‘*stick water’ has recently been installed... The residue or ‘stick’ will average about 9 per cent ammonia. 1945 Poultry Sci. XXIV. 379/1 The stickwater from fish-meal manufacture added materially to the riboflavin potency of a feed. 1965 G. H. O. Burgess et al. Fish Handling & Processing x. 237 Acidification of the dilute stickwater coagulates some of the fine suspended solids and these are sometimes recovered by further centrifuging. |
| 1800 Weems Life Washington i. (1877) 6 He will drop his false foliage and fruit and stand forth confessed in native *stickweed sterility and worthlessness. |
b. in phraseol. comb., as
stick-at-it colloq., a plodding conscientious person;
stick-at-nothing a., that will hesitate or stop at nothing in order to accomplish his purpose;
stick-to-it-iveness colloq. (
orig. U.S.), dogged perseverance. Also
stick-in-the-mud.
| 1909 H. G. Wells Tono-Bungay ii. ii. 162 I'm a boiler-over, not a simmering stick-at-it. |
| 1805 Lamb Let. Hazlitt 10 Nov., The stick-at-nothing, Herodias'-daughter kind of grace. 1841 Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxix, Here's a new brother,..a credit to the cause; one of the stick-at-nothing sort. 1915 Conrad Victory 118 A false, lying, swindling, underhand, stick-at-nothing brute. |
| 1867 in E. B. Custer Tenting on Plains (1889) xvi. 520 With the stick-to-it-iveness of a fox-hound when once on a trail. 1908 Daily Express 15 May 1/4 Success..is mostly hard work. It's work and it's stick-to-it-iveness. You've got to keep at it all the time. 1934 J. A. Lee Children of Poor i. 19 With the irresponsibility of my..father and my mother's stick-to-itiveness, I can..fashion an edifice and then..set the whole show toppling. 1979 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 8 Feb. 10/3 This man who made his million apparently more by stick-to-itiveness than brilliance. |
c. stick-on a., that sticks on or can be stuck on; adhesive.
| 1925 J. W. Bigger Handbk. Bacteriol. 60 Stick-on labels may be used, but these must never be licked in a bacteriological laboratory. 1941 Sun (Baltimore) 13 Aug. 16/6 There also will be speakers on the stick-on spray..and other matters of interest to apple growers. 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File i. 13 In crude stick-on letters the film title said Jay. Leeds. 1967 Punch 22 Nov. 780/1 False eyelashes, interchangeable wigs, adhesive eyebrows, stick-on fingernails. 1972 Guardian 11 Aug. 9/6 Another story book you make yourself with stick-on shapes. |
Add:
[III.] [23.] f. slang.
to stick one (or it) on (someone): to hit.
| 1960 Times 21 Sept. 3/7 We could hear his footsteps... As he got near Lutt ‘stuck it on him’. He only hit him once. The chap went down and I grabbed him as he fell. 1967 Guardian 6 June 5/3 If that doesn't stop, I'm going to stick one on that bastard. 1986 Making Music Apr. 24/3, I could have fallen through the floor—I thought he was there to stick one on me. |
▪ VI. stick, v.2 (
stɪk)
Pa. tense and
pple. sticked (
stɪkt); often
erron. stuck.
[f. stick n.1] 1. trans. To lay sticks between (pieces of timber) in stacking (it). ?
local.
| 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 42 Now sawe out thy timber,..Bestowe it and stick it, and lay it aright. 1714 [see sticked ppl. a.2]. 1877 in Dict. Archit. (Arch. Publ. Soc.) s.v. Stick, Deals sticked under sheds to season, with a stick between each board. Ibid. s.v. Stacking, Deals..have to be placed in a yard with due regard to the means of drying..; the top end resting against a rack (called sticking), the other end on the ground. |
2. To furnish (a plant) with a stick as a support.
| 1636 Min. Archdeaconry of Essex 1635–8 (MS.) fol. 53 b, For cuttinge bowes of a tree to sticke pease. 1766 Complete Farmer s.v. Pease, The chief trouble after sowing them is, to stick the larger sorts which require support. 1816 F. Vanderstraeten Improv. Agric. 185 note, Growing twice as high as the ordinary flax, it must be sticked or supported. 1887 G. M. Fenn This Man's Wife i. i, Going to stick those peas, are you? |
3. To furnish (an artificial leaf or flower) with a stem or stalk.
| 1896 Daily News 9 June 9/6 Then they [artificial leaves] are carried off to be ‘sticked’ and papered. |
4. To set up (type) in a composing stick.
| 1842 [Implied in type-sticker: see type n.1 10]. 1882 in Ogilvie. |
5. intr. To pick up sticks for firewood.
Only in
phr. to go sticking.
| 1870 Brand's Pop. Antiq. I. 126 In parts of Huntingdonshire, the poor people go ‘sticking’, or gathering sticks for fuel in Warboy's Wood on May Day. 1891 Rutland Gloss. s.v., I've been sticking all the morning. |
6. Croquet. To hit the post or peg.
| 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 254/1 (Croquet) Post,..Also called Peg and Stick, the last two being sometimes used as verbs, for hitting the post. |
7. To strike (a person) with a stick.
| 1937 Partridge Dict. Slang 830/1 Sticked (, be), (to be) caned. 1962 M. Duffy That's how it Was iv. 44 The whole of 3A was sticked..Miss Wilkinson..smacking the outstretched palms. 1982 Sunday Sun-Times (Chicago) 17 Oct. 138/1 Edmonton's Ken ‘The Rat’ Linseman was suspended..for sticking Toronto's Russ Adam during an exhibition game [of hockey]. |
▪ VII. stick variant of
steek n.3