Stick

noun sticks · sticke

1. countable, uncountable A small, thin branch from a tree or bush; a twig; a branch. The beaver's dam was made out of sticks.
2. countable, uncountable A relatively long, thin piece of wood, of any size. I found several good sticks in the brush heap.
3. US, countable, uncountable A timber board, especially a two by four (inches). I found enough sticks in dumpsters at construction sites to build my shed.
4. countable, uncountable 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.
5. countable, uncountable 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. countable, uncountable The vertical member of a cope-and-stick joint. When cutting the door parts, I cut all the copes first, then the sticks.
7. countable, uncountable A mast or part of a mast of a ship; also, a yard.
8. countable, figuratively, uncountable A piece (of furniture, especially if wooden). We were so poor we didn't have one stick of furniture.
9. countable, slang, uncountable A bar (counter where drinks are served). I've been working behind the stick for twenty years.
10. countable, uncountable Any roughly cylindrical (or rectangular) unit of a substance. Sealing wax is available as a cylindrical or rectangular stick.
11. Canada, US, countable, uncountable 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. countable, uncountable A standard rectangular strip of chewing gum. Don’t hog all that gum, give me a stick!
13. countable, slang, uncountable A cigarette (usually a tobacco cigarette, less often a marijuana cigarette). Cigarettes are taxed at one dollar per stick.
14. countable, uncountable A bunch of something wrapped around or attached to a stick. My parents bought us each a stick of cotton candy.
15. archaic, countable, uncountable 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. countable, uncountable 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.
17. US, colloquial, countable, uncountable 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. US, colloquial, uncountable Vehicles, collectively, equipped with manual transmissions. I grew up driving stick, but many people my age didn't.
19. countable, uncountable 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. uncountable 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. US, World War I, countable, slang, uncountable An aircraft’s propeller.
22. countable, uncountable 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.
23. countable, uncountable A memory stick. For ultimate presentation portability, a Powerpoint can be saved to a stick as images.
24. countable, slang, uncountable A handgun. A stick in the hand, a drop in the eye.
25. countable, dated, uncountable 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. countable, slang, uncountable The clarinet. Arsene, boy, ain't you worried about your clarinet? Where'd you leave that stick, man?
27. countable, uncountable 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. countable, uncountable The short whip carried by a jockey.
29. countable, uncountable A board as used in board sports, such as a surfboard, snowboard, or skateboard.
30. countable, uncountable The pole bearing a small flag that marks the hole. His wedge shot bounced off the stick and went in the hole.
31. US, slang, uncountable 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. US, countable, slang, uncountable The game of pool, or an individual pool game. He shoots a mean stick of pool.
33. countable, uncountable The long-range driving ability of a golf club. I doubted that the three iron was enough stick.
34. countable, uncountable The potential hitting power of a specific bat.
35. countable, uncountable 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. countable, uncountable The potential accuracy of a hockey stick, implicating also the player using it.
37. countable, dated, slang, uncountable A 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.
38. countable, dated, slang, uncountable 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. countable, dated, slang, uncountable 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. countable, dated, slang, uncountable 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. countable, dated, slang, uncountable A stiff, stupidly obstinate person.
42. countable, dated, slang, uncountable 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. South Africa, countable, dated, slang, uncountable 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. countable, figuratively, uncountable 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.
45. slang, uncountable Corporal punishment, beatings The child killers got some stick. I saw a woman throw a basin of scalding water over a baby killer.
46. UK, countable, figuratively, uncountable Criticism or ridicule, often in the expressions "get a lot of stick", "get some stick", "come in for some stick", etc. Most people can remember their first taste of cider: sandwiched between an illicit fag and a bout of throwing up. It’s always been the teen drink of choice: available in group-sized bottles and with a more acceptably fruity taste than beer. It is also the down-and-out’s favourite tipple because it’s
47. countable, slang, uncountable Vigor; spirit; effort, energy, intensity. He really gave that digging some stick.
48. countable, slang, uncountable 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. countable, obsolete, uncountable 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. archaic, countable, rare, uncountable A quantity of eels, usually 25. The stick is employed for eels, and contained twenty-five.
51. countable, uncountable Any of the eight 16-character groups making up the 128 characters of the 7-bit ASCII character set.

Similar: stick, twig

verb sticks · sticking · sticked · sticke

1. To cut a piece of wood to be the stick member of a cope-and-stick joint.
2. dated, slang, transitive To compose; to set, or arrange, in a composing stick. to stick type
3. transitive To furnish or set with sticks.
4. To hit with a stick.

noun sticks

1. countable 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.
2. countable, uncountable 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
3. colloquial, countable, uncountable 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.)
4. uncountable The tendency to stick (remain stuck), stickiness.
5. countable, uncountable The traction of tires on the road surface.
6. uncountable That which sticks (remains attached to another surface).
7. countable, uncountable 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. countable, informal, rare One 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. […]"

Similar: stick, twig

verb sticks · sticking · stuck · sticked

1. intransitive To become or remain attached; to adhere. The tape will not stick if it melts.
2. intransitive To jam; to stop moving. The lever sticks if you push it too far up.
3. transitive 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
4. intransitive To persist. His old nickname stuck.
5. intransitive Of snow, to remain frozen on landing.
6. intransitive To remain loyal; to remain firm. Just stick to your strategy, and you will win.
7. dated, intransitive To 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.
8. dated, intransitive To 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
9. dated, intransitive To cause difficulties, scruples, or hesitation. 1708, Jonathan Swift, The Sentiments of a Church-of-England-Man, with respect to Religion and Government, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, 7th edition, Edinburgh: G. Hamilton et al., 1752, Volume I, Miscellanies in Prose, p. 73, […] this is the Difficulty that seemeth chiefly to stick with the most r
10. transitive To attach with glue or as if by gluing. Stick the label on the jar.
11. transitive To place, set down (quickly or carelessly). Stick your bag over there and come with me.
12. transitive To press (something with a sharp point) into something else. The balloon will pop when I stick this pin in it.
13. transitive 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.
14. transitive To fix on a pointed instrument; to impale. to stick an apple on a fork
15. archaic, transitive To adorn or deck with things fastened on as by piercing. my shroud of white, stuck all with yew
16. transitive To perform (a landing or a shot) perfectly. Once again, the world champion sticks the dismount.
17. transitive To propagate plants by cuttings. Stick cuttings from geraniums promptly.
18. transitive To run or plane (mouldings) in a machine, in contradistinction to working them by hand. Such mouldings are said to be stuck.
19. dated, transitive To bring to a halt; to stymie; to puzzle. to stick somebody with a hard problem
20. dated, slang, transitive To 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."
21. US, intransitive, slang To have sexual intercourse with. You ain't lickin' this, you ain't stickin' this
22. UK, intransitive To stand pat: to cease taking any more cards and finalize one's hand.

adjective sticker · stickest

1. informal Likely to stick; sticking, sticky. A non-stick pan. A stick plaster.

noun sticks

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

Similar: stick, twig

noun Sticks

1. Ireland A member of the Official IRA.

proper noun

1. The Chapman Stick, an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman.