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Stick   /stɪk/   Listen
verb
Stick  v. t.  (past & past part. stuck, obs. sticked; pres. part. sticking)  
1.
To penetrate with a pointed instrument; to pierce; to stab; hence, to kill by piercing; as, to stick a beast. "And sticked him with bodkins anon." "It was a shame... to stick him under the other gentleman's arm while he was redding the fray."
2.
To cause to penetrate; to push, thrust, or drive, so as to pierce; as, to stick a needle into one's finger. "Thou stickest a dagger in me."
3.
To fasten, attach, or cause to remain, by thrusting in; hence, also, to adorn or deck with things fastened on as by piercing; as, to stick a pin on the sleeve. "My shroud of white, stuck all with yew." "The points of spears are stuck within the shield."
4.
To set; to fix in; as, to stick card teeth.
5.
To set with something pointed; as, to stick cards.
6.
To fix on a pointed instrument; to impale; as, to stick an apple on a fork.
7.
To attach by causing to adhere to the surface; as, to stick on a plaster; to stick a stamp on an envelope; also, to attach in any manner.
8.
(Print.) To compose; to set, or arrange, in a composing stick; as, to stick type. (Cant)
9.
(Joinery) To run or plane (moldings) in a machine, in contradistinction to working them by hand. Such moldings are said to be stuck.
10.
To cause to stick; to bring to a stand; to pose; to puzzle; as, to stick one with a hard problem. (Colloq.)
11.
To impose upon; to compel to pay; sometimes, to cheat. (Slang)
To stick out, to cause to project or protrude; to render prominent.



Stick  v. i.  (past & past part. stuck, obs. sticked; pres. part. sticking)  
1.
To adhere; as, glue sticks to the fingers; paste sticks to the wall. "The green caterpillar breedeth in the inward parts of roses not blown, where the dew sticketh."
2.
To remain where placed; to be fixed; to hold fast to any position so as to be moved with difficulty; to cling; to abide; to cleave; to be united closely. "A friend that sticketh closer than a brother." "I am a kind of bur; I shall stick." "If on your fame our sex a bolt has thrown, 'T will ever stick through malice of your own."
3.
To be prevented from going farther; to stop by reason of some obstacle; to be stayed. "I had most need of blessing, and "Amen" Stuck in my throat." "The trembling weapon passed Through nine bull hides,... and stuck within the last."
4.
To be embarrassed or puzzled; to hesitate; to be deterred, as by scruples; to scruple; often with at. "They will stick long at part of a demonstration for want of perceiving the connection of two ideas." "Some stick not to say, that the parson and attorney forged a will."
5.
To cause difficulties, scruples, or hesitation. "This is the difficulty that sticks with the most reasonable."
To stick by.
(a)
To adhere closely to; to be firm in supporting. "We are your only friends; stick by us, and we will stick by you."
(b)
To be troublesome by adhering. "I am satisfied to trifle away my time, rather than let it stick by me."
To stick out.
(a)
To project; to be prominent. "His bones that were not seen stick out."
(b)
To persevere in a purpose; to hold out; as, the garrison stuck out until relieved. (Colloq.)
To stick to, to be persevering in holding to; as, to stick to a party or cause. "The advantage will be on our side if we stick to its essentials."
To stick up, to stand erect; as, his hair sticks up.
To stick up for, to assert and defend; as, to stick up for one's rights or for a friend. (Colloq.)
To stick upon, to dwell upon; not to forsake. "If the matter be knotty, the mind must stop and buckle to it, and stick upon it with labor and thought."



noun
Stick  n.  
1.
A small shoot, or branch, separated, as by a cutting, from a tree or shrub; also, any stem or branch of a tree, of any size, cut for fuel or timber. "Withered sticks to gather, which might serve Against a winter's day."
2.
Any long and comparatively slender piece of wood, whether in natural form or shaped with tools; a rod; a wand; a staff; as, the stick of a rocket; a walking stick.
3.
Anything shaped like a stick; as, a stick of wax.
4.
A derogatory expression for a person; one who is inert or stupid; as, an odd stick; a poor stick. (Colloq.)
5.
(Print.) A composing stick. See under Composing. It is usually a frame of metal, but for posters, handbills, etc., one made of wood is used.
6.
A thrust with a pointed instrument; a stab.
A stick of eels, twenty-five eels. (Prov. Eng.)
Stick chimney, a chimney made of sticks laid crosswise, and cemented with clay or mud, as in some log houses. (U.S.)
Stick insect, (Zool.), any one of various species of wingless orthopterous insects of the family Phasmidae, which have a long round body, resembling a stick in form and color, and long legs, which are often held rigidly in such positions as to make them resemble small twigs. They thus imitate the branches and twigs of the trees on which they live. The common American species is Diapheromera femorata. Some of the Asiatic species are more than a foot long.
To cut one's stick, or To cut stick, to run away. (Slang)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Stick" Quotes from Famous Books



... use a net of any other description. His numerous captures of rare and new Coleoptera were mostly made by carefully searching for them in their haunts, from which—if trees, shrubs, or long grass, &c.—he would beat them with his walking-stick into a newspaper; and, collected in this way, he would bring home in a few small phials in his waistcoat pockets, and in a moderate-sized collecting-box, after an afternoon's excursion, a booty often much richer than his companions had ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 451 - Volume 18, New Series, August 21, 1852 • Various

... convince any man that the very fact of having to load his gun will make a soldier comparatively cool and steady. If he will stay to load at all, and will fix his mind upon what he is doing, he will become cool enough to take aim. While if he has only to stick in a cartridge and shoot, or turn a crank and pull trigger, he will fire fast, but he will fire wildly. I have seen some of the steadiest soldiers I ever knew, men who were dead shots with an Enfield, shoot as if they were aiming at the sun with a Spencer. The Spencer rifle would ...
— History of Morgan's Cavalry • Basil W. Duke

... any means doing its part to encourage the other portions of the room to look their best. Fleda knew something of wood fires from old times; she laid hold of the tongs, and touched and loosened and coaxed a stick here and there, with a delicate hand, till, seeing the very opening it had wanted without which neither fire nor hope can keep its activity the blaze sprang up energetically, crackling through all the piled oak and hickory, ...
— Queechy, Volume I • Elizabeth Wetherell

... hat in hand, incredibly vulgarised by his smart shore togs, with a jaunty air and an odious twinkle in his eye. Being asked to sit down he laid his hat and stick on the table and after we had talked of ship affairs for a ...
— 'Twixt Land & Sea • Joseph Conrad

... fury, and hollow prophecies issued from him, sublimely eloquent and inordinately rapid, so that on his recovery he went about crying, "Repent! Repent! I was a mocker and a sinner. Repent! Repent!" The Moslems themselves began to waver. A Turkish Dervish, clad in white flowing robes, with a stick in his hand, preached in the street corners to his countrymen, proclaiming the Jewish Messiah. "Think ye," he cried, "that to wash your hands stained with the blood of the poor and full of booty, or to bathe your feet which have walked in the way of unrighteousness, suffices to render you clean? ...
— Dreamers of the Ghetto • I. Zangwill


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