Definition of "stick"

An elongated piece of wood or similar material, typically put to some use, for example as a wand or baton.

1. A small, thin branch from a tree or bush; a twig; a branch.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4

2. A relatively long, thin piece of wood, of any size.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • It is a fine stick, about 70 feet long.

     1887 August 23, “At Work on the Thistle”, in The New York Times

3. (US) A timber board, especially a two by four (inches).  examples

4. A cane or walking stick (usually wooden, metal or plastic) to aid in walking.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company

5. A cudgel or truncheon (usually of wood, metal or plastic), especially one carried by police or guards.  examples

6. (carpentry) The vertical member of a cope-and-stick joint.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

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

     1997, Joseph Beals, “Building Interior Doors”, in Doors, Taunton Press, page 82

7. (nautical) A mast or part of a mast of a ship; also, a yard.  examples

8. (figuratively) A piece (of furniture, especially if wooden).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

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

     1862, W.M. Thackeray, The Adventures of Philip, printed in Harper's New Monthly Magazine volume XXV edition, page 242

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

1. (chiefly Canada, US) 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).  examples

2. a stick of gumA standard rectangular strip of chewing gum.  examples

3. (slang) A cigarette (usually a tobacco cigarette, less often a marijuana cigarette).

Material or objects attached to a stick or the like.

1. A bunch of something wrapped around or attached to a stick.  examples

2. (archaic) A scroll that is rolled around (mounted on, attached to) a stick.  quotations

   Quotations

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

     1611, The Bible, King James Version edition, Ezekiel 37:16

3. (military) 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.  quotations

   Quotations

   • 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.

     2001, Raymond Mitchell, Commando Despatch Rider, page 70

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

     2006, Farley Mowat, Aftermath: Travels in a Post-War World, page 200

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

     2006, Holly Aho, From Here to There, page 48

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

1. (US, colloquial) 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.

   1. (US, colloquial, uncountable) Vehicles, collectively, equipped with manual transmissions.  examples

2. (aviation) 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.)  examples

3. (aviation, uncountable) Use of the stick to control the aircraft.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

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

     1941, Jay D. Blaufox, 33 Lessons in Flying, page 47

4. (video games) A joystick.  examples

5. (computing) A memory stick.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

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

     2007 May 1, Alex Fethiere, “Business Traveler”, in Tech front: Alex Fethiere takes eleven notable portables for a high-tech test-drive

6. (slang) A handgun.  quotations

   Quotations

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

     2007 September 18, “Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya”, in Joseph B. Geoghegan (lyrics), The Meanest of Times‎, performed by Dropkick Murphys

   • 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.

     2013 April 8, “Off the Record”, in Topic of Discussion‎, performed by Yungen

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

     2018 July 27, “Strip Talk”, Marty Mula (lyrics)‎, 1:52

7. (dated, letterpress typography) A composing stick, the tool used by compositors to assemble lines of type.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

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

     1854, Thomas Ford, The Compositor's Handbook, page 125

8. (jazz, slang) The clarinet.  quotations

   Quotations

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

     1948, Frederic Ramsey, Jr., “Deep Sea Rider”, in Charles Harvey, editor, Jazz Parody: Anthology of Jazz Fiction

(sports) A stick-like item:

1. (sports, generically) A long thin implement used to control a ball or puck in sports like hockey, polo, and lacrosse.  examples

2. (horse racing) The short whip carried by a jockey.  examples

3. (boardsports) A board as used in board sports, such as a surfboard, snowboard, or skateboard.  examples

4. (golf) The pole bearing a small flag that marks the hole.  examples

5. (US, slang, uncountable) The cue used in billiards, pool, snooker, etc.

   1. The game of pool, or an individual pool game.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

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

        2003, Lew Bryson, New York Breweries, page 74

(sports, uncountable) Ability; specifically:

1. (golf) The long-range driving ability of a golf club.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • I doubted that the three iron was enough stick.

     1988, William Hallberg, The Rub of the Green, page 219

2. (baseball) The potential hitting power of a specific bat.  examples

3. (baseball) General hitting ability.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

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

     2002 May 19, Mike Lupica, “Just Need A Little Mo”, in New York Daily News

4. (field hockey or ice hockey) The potential accuracy of a hockey stick, implicating also the player using it.  examples

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

1. A thin or wiry person; particularly a flat-chested woman.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

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

     1967, Cecelia Holland, Rakóssy, page 39

2. (magic) An assistant planted in the audience.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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."

     2001, Paul Quarrington, The Spirit Cabinet, page 255

3. (gambling) A shill or house player.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     2011, Howard Fast, Helen

4. A stiff, stupidly obstinate person.  examples

5. (military aviation, from joystick) A fighter pilot.  quotations

   Quotations

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

     2001, John Darrell Sherwood, Fast Movers: America's Jet Pilots and the Vietnam Experience, page 30

6. (military, South Africa) A small group of (infantry) soldiers.  quotations

   Quotations

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

     2007, Bart Wolffe, Persona Non Grata, page 245

Encouragement or punishment, or (resulting) vigour or other improved behavior.

1. (figurative) 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.)  quotations  examples

   Quotations

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

     1998 January 23, “Judicial activism has ushered in hope”, in Indian Express

   • 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.

     2023 August 7, Paul Krugman, “Climate Is Now a Culture War Issue”, in The New York Times‎

2. (slang, uncountable) Corporal punishment; beatings.  quotations

   Quotations

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

     1999, Eve McDougall, A Wicked Fist, page 69

3. (slang) Vigor; spirit; effort, energy, intensity.  quotations

   Quotations

   • '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.'

     1979, Don Bannister, Sam Chard, page 185

4. (slang) Vigorous driving of a car; gas.  quotations

   Quotations

   • 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.

     2006, Martyn J. Pass, Dani Pass, Waiting for Red, page 163

A measure.

1. (obsolete) An English Imperial unit of length equal to 2 inches.  quotations

   Quotations

   • 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 […]

     1921, Elmer Davis, History of the New York Times, 1851-1921, page 61

2. (archaic, rare) A quantity of eels, usually 25.  quotations

   Quotations

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

     1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 1, page 171

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

     1999, Claire Breay, The Cartulary of Chatteris Abbey, page 62

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

(transitive, printing, slang, dated) To compose; to set, or arrange, in a composing stick.

(transitive) To furnish or set with sticks.  examples

(uncountable) The tendency to stick (remain stuck), stickiness.

1. (motor racing) The traction of tires on the road surface.  examples

(uncountable) That which sticks (remains attached to another surface).

1. (fishing) The amount of fishing line resting on the water surface before a cast; line stick.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

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

     2004, Simon Gawesworth, Spey Casting‎, page 47

(countable) A thrust with a pointed instrument; a stab.  examples

(intransitive) To become or remain attached; to adhere.  quotations  examples

(intransitive) To jam; to stop moving.  examples

(transitive) To tolerate, to endure, to stick with.  quotations  examples

(intransitive) To persist.  quotations  examples

(intransitive) Of snow, to remain frozen on landing.  examples

(intransitive) To remain loyal; to remain firm.  quotations  examples

(dated, intransitive) To hesitate, to be reluctant; to refuse (in negative phrases).  quotations  examples

(dated, intransitive) To be puzzled (at something), have difficulty understanding.  quotations  examples

(dated, intransitive) To cause difficulties, scruples, or hesitation.  quotations  examples

(transitive) To attach with glue or as if by gluing.  examples

(transitive) To place, set down (quickly or carelessly).  quotations  examples

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

1. (transitive, now only in dialects) To stab.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     circa 1583, John Jewel, in a sermon republished in 1847 in The Works of John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, portion 2, page 969

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

     c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene i]

   • […] 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.

     1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Gives Some Account of Himself and Family, His First Inducements to Travel. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 10

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

     1809, Grafton's chronicle, or history of England, volume 2, page 135

   • It was a shame […] to stick him under the other gentleman's arm while he was redding the fray.

     1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown

   • The defendant said he didn't shoot; "he sticked him with a knife."

     1908, The Northeastern Reporter, volume 85, page 693

(transitive) To fix on a pointed instrument; to impale.  examples

(transitive, archaic) To adorn or deck with things fastened on as by piercing.  quotations

(transitive, gymnastics) To perform (a landing) perfectly.  examples

(botany, transitive) To propagate plants by cuttings.  examples

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

(dated, transitive) To bring to a halt; to stymie; to puzzle.  examples

(transitive, slang, dated) To impose upon; to compel to pay; sometimes, to cheat.  quotations

(intransitive, US, slang) To have sexual intercourse with.  quotations

(intransitive, blackjack, chiefly UK) To stand pat: to cease taking any more cards and finalize one's hand.  examples

(informal) Likely to stick; sticking, sticky.  examples

(Britain) Criticism or ridicule.  quotations  examples