stick

noun

1. 1

   An elongated piece of wood or similar material, typically put to some use, for example as a wand or baton. A small, thin branch from a tree or bush; a twig; a branch.

   The beaver's dam was made out of sticks.

   Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame.

2. 2

   An elongated piece of wood or similar material, typically put to some use, for example as a wand or baton. A relatively long, thin piece of wood, of any size.

   I found several good sticks in the brush heap.

   What do you call a boomerang that won't come back? A stick.

   It is a fine stick, about 70 feet long.

3. 3

   An elongated piece of wood or similar material, typically put to some use, for example as a wand or baton. A timber board, especially a two by four (inches).

   I found enough sticks in dumpsters at construction sites to build my shed.

4. 4

   An elongated piece of wood or similar material, typically put to some use, for example as a wand or baton. A cane or walking stick (usually wooden, metal or plastic) to aid in walking.

   I don’t need my stick to walk, but it’s helpful.

   The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.

5. 5

   An elongated piece of wood or similar material, typically put to some use, for example as a wand or baton. A cudgel or truncheon (usually of wood, metal or plastic), especially one carried by police or guards.

   As soon as the fight started, the guards came in swinging their sticks.

6. 6

   An elongated piece of wood or similar material, typically put to some use, for example as a wand or baton. The vertical member of a cope-and-stick joint.

   When cutting the door parts, I cut all the copes first, then the sticks.

7. 7

   An elongated piece of wood or similar material, typically put to some use, for example as a wand or baton. A mast or part of a mast of a ship; also, a yard.

8. 8

   figurativeAn elongated piece of wood or similar material, typically put to some use, for example as a wand or baton. A piece (of furniture, especially if wooden).

   We were so poor we didn't have one stick of furniture.

   It is more than poor Philip is worth, with all his savings and his little sticks of furniture.

9. 9

   slangAn elongated piece of wood or similar material, typically put to some use, for example as a wand or baton. A bar (counter where drinks are served).

   I've been working behind the stick for twenty years.

   […] other side of the stick, that's what they call the bar around here.

10. 10

    Any roughly cylindrical (or rectangular) unit of a substance.

    Sealing wax is available as a cylindrical or rectangular stick.

11. 11

    Any roughly cylindrical (or rectangular) unit of a substance. A small rectangular block, with a length several times its width, which contains by volume one half of a cup of shortening (butter, margarine or lard).

    The recipe calls for half a stick of butter.

12. 12

    Any roughly cylindrical (or rectangular) unit of a substance. A standard rectangular strip of chewing gum.

    Don’t hog all that gum, give me a stick!

13. 13

    slangAny roughly cylindrical (or rectangular) unit of a substance. A cigarette (usually a tobacco cigarette, less often a marijuana cigarette).

    Cigarettes are taxed at one dollar per stick.

14. 14

    Material or objects attached to a stick or the like. A bunch of something wrapped around or attached to a stick.

    My parents bought us each a stick of cotton candy.

15. 15

    archaicMaterial or objects attached to a stick or the like. A scroll that is rolled around (mounted on, attached to) a stick.

    Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it[…]

16. 16

    Material or objects attached to a stick or the like. The structure to which a set of bombs in a bomber aircraft are attached and which drops the bombs when it is released. The bombs themselves and, by extension, any load of similar items dropped in quick succession such as paratroopers or containers.

    Scores of transport planes streamed in to drop stick after stick of containers until the entire sky over the coast was polka-dotted with brightly coloured parachutes.

    A stick of bombs fell straight across Wotton; blew up half a dozen houses.

    James and I were in the same stick of five guys going through free fall school last September.

17. 17

    A tool, control, or instrument shaped somewhat like a stick. A manual transmission, a vehicle equipped with a manual transmission, so called because of the stick-like, i.e. twig-like, control (the gear shift) with which the driver of such a vehicle controls its transmission.

    I grew up driving a stick, but many people my age didn't.

18. 18

    A tool, control, or instrument shaped somewhat like a stick. A manual transmission, a vehicle equipped with a manual transmission, so called because of the stick-like, i.e. twig-like, control (the gear shift) with which the driver of such a vehicle controls its transmission. Vehicles, collectively, equipped with manual transmissions.

    I grew up driving stick, but many people my age didn't.

19. 19

    A tool, control, or instrument shaped somewhat like a stick. The control column of an aircraft; a joystick. (By convention, a wheel-like control mechanism with a handgrip on opposite sides, similar to the steering wheel of an automobile, can also be called the "stick", although "yoke" or "control wheel" is more commonly seen.)

20. 20

    A tool, control, or instrument shaped somewhat like a stick. Use of the stick to control the aircraft.

    For example: in making a turn, should you throw on too much stick and not enough rudder, you'll sideslip.

21. 21

    slangA tool, control, or instrument shaped somewhat like a stick. An aircraft’s propeller.

22. 22

    A tool, control, or instrument shaped somewhat like a stick. A joystick.

    The keyboard offers a full range of actions including Fight and you are given the option of using a Kempston stick for the movement combat.

    When you’re swooping, looping, and diving with the analog stick (either using the nunchuk or the Classic controller), the game feels very much like its 32-bit predecessor; […]

23. 23

    A tool, control, or instrument shaped somewhat like a stick. A memory stick.

    For ultimate presentation portability, a Powerpoint can be saved to a stick as images.

24. 24

    slangA tool, control, or instrument shaped somewhat like a stick. A handgun.

    A stick in the hand, a drop in the eye.

    You think you’re real now you’ve got a couple sticks? My favourite younger, he got stabbed in my bits. And if he died fam, I promise I’d have quit.

    Bitch, pig, pull out with the stick / everything I hit like a lick/ We don’t miss

25. 25

    datedA tool, control, or instrument shaped somewhat like a stick. A composing stick, the tool used by compositors to assemble lines of type.

    […]although the headings may often be in other type, still, as these are composed in the same stick, they cannot fail to justify;[…]

26. 26

    slangA tool, control, or instrument shaped somewhat like a stick. The clarinet.

    Arsene, boy, ain't you worried about your clarinet? Where'd you leave that stick, man?

27. 27

    A stick-like item: A long thin implement used to control a ball or puck in sports like hockey, polo, and lacrosse.

    Tripping with the stick is a violation of the rules.

28. 28

    A stick-like item: The short whip carried by a jockey.

29. 29

    A stick-like item: A board as used in board sports, such as a surfboard, snowboard, or skateboard.

30. 30

    A stick-like item: The pole bearing a small flag that marks the hole.

    His wedge shot bounced off the stick and went in the hole.

31. 31

    slangA stick-like item: The cue used in billiards, pool, snooker, etc.

    His stroke with that two-piece stick is a good as anybody's in the club.

32. 32

    slangA stick-like item: The cue used in billiards, pool, snooker, etc. The game of pool, or an individual pool game.

    He shoots a mean stick of pool.

    Come in, have a good time, drink some beer, shoot some stick, listen to some music.

33. 33

    Ability; specifically: The long-range driving ability of a golf club.

    I doubted that the three iron was enough stick.

34. 34

    Ability; specifically: The potential hitting power of a specific bat.

35. 35

    Ability; specifically: General hitting ability.

    Vaughn has to hit and keep hitting or this will be another year when the Mets don't have enough stick to win.

36. 36

    Ability; specifically: The potential accuracy of a hockey stick, implicating also the player using it.

37. 37

    datedA person or group of people. (Perhaps, in some senses, because people are, broadly speaking, tall and thin, like pieces of wood.)

    Your father's a great old stick. He's really been very good to me.

    “[…]He’s a good doctor but an odd stick—odder by far than I am, Emily, and yet nobody ever says he’s not all there. Can you account for that? He doesn’t believe in God—and I am not such a fool as that.”

38. 38

    datedA person or group of people. (Perhaps, in some senses, because people are, broadly speaking, tall and thin, like pieces of wood.) A thin or wiry person; particularly a flat-chested woman.

    "She's a stick, this one. She lacks your—" he patted her left breast— "equipment."

39. 39

    datedA person or group of people. (Perhaps, in some senses, because people are, broadly speaking, tall and thin, like pieces of wood.) An assistant planted in the audience.

    The kid was a stick, a plant, a student from UNLV who picked up a few bucks nightly by saying the words "seven of hearts."

40. 40

    datedA person or group of people. (Perhaps, in some senses, because people are, broadly speaking, tall and thin, like pieces of wood.) A shill or house player.

    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.

41. 41

    datedA person or group of people. (Perhaps, in some senses, because people are, broadly speaking, tall and thin, like pieces of wood.) A stiff, stupidly obstinate person.

42. 42

    datedA person or group of people. (Perhaps, in some senses, because people are, broadly speaking, tall and thin, like pieces of wood.) A fighter pilot.

    Bill Kirk, described by Robin as a "hell of a stick," didn't even attend college until after the Vietnam War.

43. 43

    datedA person or group of people. (Perhaps, in some senses, because people are, broadly speaking, tall and thin, like pieces of wood.) A small group of (infantry) soldiers.

    I remember when we dreaded the rain, as our stick of soldiers walked through the damp, tick-infested long grass of the Zambezi valley,[…]

44. 44

    figurativeEncouragement or punishment, or (resulting) vigour or other improved behavior. A negative stimulus or a punishment. (This sense derives from the metaphor of using a stick, a long piece of wood, to poke or beat a beast of burden to compel it to move forward.)

    We were tempted with the carrot but subtly threatened with the stick.

    What about contempt? Isn't it used by the judiciary as a stick to dissuade people from writing or talking about them?

    Back in 2009, when Democrats tried but failed to take significant climate action, their policy proposals consisted mainly of sticks—limits on emissions in the form of permits that businesses could buy and sell.

45. 45

    slangEncouragement or punishment, or (resulting) vigour or other improved behavior. Corporal punishment, beatings

    The child killers got some stick. I saw a woman throw a basin of scalding water over a baby killer.

    “[…] Nigel used the word ‘invasion’ for a long time and got a huge amount of stick […]” he says, referring to the total number of men, women and children who have arrived by small boat in the past seven years.

46. 46

    figurativeEncouragement or punishment, or (resulting) vigour or other improved behavior. Criticism or ridicule, often in the expressions "get a lot of stick", "get some stick", "come in for some stick", etc.

    I got some stick personally because of my walking attire. I arrived to training fully kitted out in sturdy walking boots.

    'I have nothing against the players at Cardiff, because they did all help me to become a better player.' He added: 'I'll probably have a lot of stick when I return to Ninian Park for that game, but I did was the best I could for Cardiff and the supporters. I've just got to get on with it and try to do a job for Birmingham City - this is now my future and my new employer.'

47. 47

    slangEncouragement or punishment, or (resulting) vigour or other improved behavior. Vigor; spirit; effort, energy, intensity.

    He really gave that digging some stick.

    She really gave that bully some stick.

    Give it some stick!

    'Choir gave it some stick on "Unto Us a Son is Born."' ¶ Cynthia nodded. ¶ 'It was always one of Russell's favourites. He makes them try hard on that.'

48. 48

    slangEncouragement or punishment, or (resulting) vigour or other improved behavior. Vigorous driving of a car; gas.

    Skunk really gave it some stick all the way to Caliban's place, we passed a good few Coppers but they all seemed to turn the blind eye.

49. 49

    obsoleteA measure. An English Imperial unit of length equal to 2 inches.

    There was another speech in that day's news — a speech which The Times printed on the front page because it was part of a front-page story, and in full — it was only two sticks long; printed in full just after the much longer invocation by the officiating clergyman […]

50. 50

    archaicA measure. A quantity of eels, usually 25.

    The stick is employed for eels, and contained twenty-five.

    In the same charter, Nigel granted another 10 sticks of eels yielded by the fishery of Polwere to the abbey[…]

51. 51

    Any of the eight 16-character groups making up the 128 characters of the 7-bit ASCII character set.

verb

1. 1

   To cut a piece of wood to be the stick member of a cope-and-stick joint.

2. 2

   datedTo compose; to set, or arrange, in a composing stick.

   to stick type

3. 3

   To furnish or set with sticks.

4. 4

   To hit with a stick.

noun

1. 1

   A thrust with a pointed instrument; a stab; an instance of sticking (pricking or piercing).

   […]; but let me tell you, my brave boy, that a stick with a sword hurts worse than a prick with a needle.

   What if Veronica Prego was lying about who drew the blood and it was her own carelessness, not Joyce Fogel's, which caused the needle stick?

2. 2

   An instance of piercing someone with a needle, e.g. to draw blood or start an IV.

   Most phlebotomists (those who do the actual venipuncture) seldom acknowledge a bad stick in front of a donor, especially if the donor is inexperienced and the vein is not a particularly trick one to reach. Rather than admit to blowing an easy stick, the phlebotomist may say or do things to indicate that nothing is wrong or may even place the blame on someone else, usually the donor.

   Also, for outpatient procedures, placing a central line (due to a difficult stick) because you don't want to place an IV in the foot may be overkill, and cumbersome for ambulating patients. Bringing in the "big guns”: You may need to use an ultrasound machine when you anticipate a difficult stick […]

   […] hoping to get an easy stick. Well, that partially worked. She got the needle in the correct vein on the second stick. Ouch, ouch!

3. 3

   A person whom one is piercing with a needle to draw blood or start an IV (especially in the context of how difficult or easy this is).

   I was called to start an IV on a “difficult stick.” (Notice the term we so commonly use to describe a human being who is difficult to hook up to an IV.)

   […] the patient is a 'difficult stick' (that is, difficult to draw blood from) and as such will likely have to endure multiple painful attempts beyond the first blood draw, to obtain the culture; […]

   She put the tourniquet on Bella's arm […] Bella wasn't going to be an easy stick.

4. 4

   The tendency to stick (remain stuck), stickiness.

5. 5

   The tendency to stick (remain stuck), stickiness. The traction of tires on the road surface.

6. 6

   That which sticks (remains attached to another surface).

7. 7

   That which sticks (remains attached to another surface). The amount of fishing line resting on the water surface before a cast; line stick.

   Problem: A lot of stick and a lack of energy on the forward stroke.

8. 8

   informalOne who sticks at something; one who persists.

   There had been a reference to the language. "I often wished that I was a better stick at it," said Tulloch. "I'd picked up a bit in Bombay and of course I threw myself into it when Fraser got me the post. […]"

verb

1. 1

   To become or remain attached; to adhere.

   The tape will not stick if it melts.

   The Citizens in their rage, imagining that euery poſt in the Churche had bin one of yᵉ Souldyers, ſhot habbe or nabbe at randon^([sic – meaning random]) uppe to the Roode lofte, and to the Chancell, leauing ſome of theyr arrowes ſticking in the Images.

   I haue stucke vnto thy Testimonies: O Lord put me not to shame.

   Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.

2. 2

   To jam; to stop moving.

   The lever sticks if you push it too far up.

3. 3

   To tolerate, to endure, to stick with.

   "I've had ten years of it, scratching enough out of it to dress and feed myself when the going's good and sharing a room with a girl friend or pigging it in some cheap boarding-house, and doing a perish when I've been out of a job. I've got to the point where I can't stick it any longer. I'd get out tomorrow if I could find something else to do."

   Why do most course organizers stick the job for less than five years?

4. 4

   To persist.

   His old nickname stuck.

   "Our team did brilliantly to be in the game. We stuck at it and did a good job. This is disappointing but we'll think about the next game tomorrow."

5. 5

   Of snow, to remain frozen on landing.

6. 6

   To remain loyal; to remain firm.

   Just stick to your strategy, and you will win.

   After this contencion, the common people did ſticke vnto king Agis, and the riche men followed Leonidas, praying and perſwading him not to forſake them: and further, they did ſo intreate the Senators, in whom conſiſteth the chiefe authority,[…]

   What I get from work makes me a better mother, and what I get from being a mother makes me a better journalist. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

7. 7

   datedTo hesitate, to be reluctant; to refuse (in negative phrases).

   For thou art so possess’d with murderous hate That ’gainst thyself thou stick’st not to conspire.

   Some stick not to say, that the Parson and Attorney forg’d a Will, for which they were well Paid […]

   , 2nd edition edited by Samuel Johnson, London: J. Payne, 1756, Part I, p. 12, Though a cup of cold water from some hand may not be without its reward, yet stick not thou for wine and oil for the wounds of the distressed […]

   And so careful were they to put off the Honour of great Actions from themselves, and to centre it upon God, that they stuck not sometimes to depreciate themselves that they might more effectually honour him.

8. 8

   datedTo be puzzled (at something), have difficulty understanding.

   He that has to do with young scholars, especially in mathematics, may perceive how their minds open by degrees, and how it is exercise alone that opens them. Sometimes they will stick a long time at a part of a demonstration, not for want of perceiving the connection of two ideas; that, to one whose understanding is more exercised, is as visible as any thing can be.

9. 9

   datedTo cause difficulties, scruples, or hesitation.

10. 10

    To attach with glue or as if by gluing.

    Stick the label on the jar.

11. 11

    To place, set down (quickly or carelessly).

    Stick your bag over there and come with me.

    Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.

12. 12

    To press (something with a sharp point) into something else.

    The balloon will pop when I stick this pin in it.

    to stick a needle into one's finger

    The points of spears are stuck within the shield.

13. 13

    To press (something with a sharp point) into something else. To stab.

    In certain of their sacrifices they had a lamb, they sticked him, they killed him, and made sacrifice of him: this lamb was Christ the Son of God, he was killed, sticked, and made a sweet-smelling sacrifice for our sins.

    Thou stickest a dagger in me: I shall never see my gold again: fourscore ducats at a sitting! fourscore ducats!

    […] ſome of them attempted with Spears to ſtick me in the Sides; but, by good luck, I had on me a Buff Jerkin, which they could not pierce.

    […] would haue [=have] sticked him with a dagger […]

14. 14

    To fix on a pointed instrument; to impale.

    to stick an apple on a fork

15. 15

    archaicTo adorn or deck with things fastened on as by piercing.

    my shroud of white, stuck all with yew

16. 16

    To perform (a landing or a shot) perfectly.

    Once again, the world champion sticks the dismount.

    stick the landing

17. 17

    To propagate plants by cuttings.

    Stick cuttings from geraniums promptly.

18. 18

    To run or plane (mouldings) in a machine, in contradistinction to working them by hand. Such mouldings are said to be stuck.

19. 19

    datedTo bring to a halt; to stymie; to puzzle.

    to stick somebody with a hard problem

20. 20

    datedTo impose upon; to compel to pay; sometimes, to cheat.

    Behind all that languid talk she was feverishly computing, "I wonder how much I can stick him for it. A hundred and fifty? But it's worth that - two hundred. He won't value it unless the price is stiff."

    Chillin' in a Benz with my amigos / Tryin' to stick a nigga for his pesos

21. 21

    slangTo have sexual intercourse with.

    You ain't lickin' this, you ain't stickin' this

    You leave your girl around me; if she's bad she's gonna get stuck.

22. 22

    To stand pat: to cease taking any more cards and finalize one's hand.

adjective

1. 1

   informalLikely to stick; sticking, sticky.

   A non-stick pan. A stick plaster.

   A sticker type of glue. The stickest kind of gum.

noun

1. 1

   obsoleteThe customary length (according to the material used) of a piece or roll of textile fabrics imported from Flanders.

Forms

plural

sticks

comparative

sticker

superlative

stickest

past tense

sticked, stuck

past participle

sticked, stuck

present participle

sticking

third person singular

sticks