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Stump   /stəmp/   Listen
noun
Stump  n.  
1.
The part of a tree or plant remaining in the earth after the stem or trunk is cut off; the stub.
2.
The part of a limb or other body remaining after a part is amputated or destroyed; a fixed or rooted remnant; a stub; as, the stump of a leg, a finger, a tooth, or a broom.
3.
pl. The legs; as, to stir one's stumps. (Slang)
4.
(Cricket) One of the three pointed rods stuck in the ground to form a wicket and support the bails.
5.
A short, thick roll of leather or paper, cut to a point, or any similar implement, used to rub down the lines of a crayon or pencil drawing, in shading it, or for shading drawings by producing tints and gradations from crayon, etc., in powder.
6.
A pin in a tumbler lock which forms an obstruction to throwing the bolt, except when the gates of the tumblers are properly arranged, as by the key; a fence; also, a pin or projection in a lock to form a guide for a movable piece.
Leg stump (Cricket), the stump nearest to the batsman.
Off stump (Cricket), the stump farthest from the batsman.
Stump tracery (Arch.), a term used to describe late German Gothic tracery, in which the molded bar seems to pass through itself in its convolutions, and is then cut off short, so that a section of the molding is seen at the end of each similar stump.
To go on the stump, or To take the stump, to engage in making public addresses for electioneering purposes; a phrase derived from the practice of using a stump for a speaker's platform in newly-settled districts. Hence also the phrases stump orator, stump speaker, stump speech, stump oratory, etc. (Colloq. U.S.) on the stump campaigning for public office; running for election to office.


verb
Stump  v. t.  (past & past part. stumped; pres. part. stumping)  
1.
To cut off a part of; to reduce to a stump; to lop. "Around the stumped top soft moss did grow."
2.
To strike, as the toes, against a stone or something fixed; to stub. (Colloq.)
3.
To challenge; also, to nonplus. (Colloq.)
4.
To travel over, delivering speeches for electioneering purposes; as, to stump a State, or a district. See To go on the stump, under Stump, n. (Colloq. U.S.)
5.
(Cricket)
(a)
To put (a batsman) out of play by knocking off the bail, or knocking down the stumps of the wicket he is defending while he is off his allotted ground; sometimes with out.
(b)
To bowl down the stumps of, as, of a wicket. "A herd of boys with clamor bowled, And stumped the wicket."
To stump it.
(a)
To go afoot; hence, to run away; to escape. (Slang)
(b)
To make electioneering speeches. (Colloq. U.S.)


Stump  v. i.  To walk clumsily, as if on stumps.
To stump up, to pay cash. (Prov. Eng.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Stump" Quotes from Famous Books



... honest, of unflinching courage and energy. I had come into personal contact with him in the Presidential campaigns of 1860 and 1864, when he seemed to be pleased with my efforts. I had once heard him make a stump speech which was evidently inspired by intense hatred of slavery, and remarkable for argumentative pith and sarcastic wit. But the impression his personality made upon me was not sympathetic: his face, long ...
— McClure's Magazine, Vol 31, No 2, June 1908 • Various
... body, and dragging from under the bed a girl of fourteen, quite naked, and with a skin as tough as that of an alligator, ordered her to the well with a large bucket. Having thus provided for my beast, I sat upon a stump that served for a chair, and once more ...
— Monsieur Violet • Frederick Marryat
... which he put in his pocket. On the instant, the King forgets his dignity, and cane in hand runs to this valet (who little suspected what was in store for him), strikes him; abuses him, and breaks the cane upon his body! The truth is, 'twas only a reed, and snapped easily. However, the stump in his hand, he walked away like a man quite beside himself, continuing to abuse this valet, and entered Madame de Maintenon's room, where he remained nearly an hour. Upon coming out he met Father ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre
... cried, as I seized the lovely orator in my arms and hugged her to my breast, thereby, to adopt her own words, squeezing out of her the little breath which she had left. "Bravo, Josephine! If you were to take the stump it would be I and not Mr. Spinney who ...
— The Opinions of a Philosopher • Robert Grant
... of account, because, though it may be good for us to read Pepys, it is better to have read him and be through with it. There, under the grace of God, go a many besides Pepys, and among them every boy who has ever befouled a wall with a stump of pencil. We are left then with one whom it is ill to name in the same fill of the inkpot, "Wordsworth's exquisite sister," as Keats, who saw her once, at once knew her ...
— In a Green Shade - A Country Commentary • Maurice Hewlett


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