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- Dictionarystick/stɪk/
noun
- 1. a thin piece of wood that has fallen or been cut off a tree. Similar piece of woodtwigsmall branchcanepolebeanpolepoststakeuprightrod
- ▪ a long, thin piece of wood used for support in walking or as a weapon. Similar walking stickcanestaffmalaccaalpenstockblackthornashplantrattanthumb stickcrookcrutchwaddyclubcudgelbludgeonshillelaghtruncheonbatoncanebirchswitchrodlathidandakierieknobkerrieinformal:cosh
- ▪ (in hockey, polo, and other games) a long, thin implement, typically made of wood, with a curved head or angled blade that is used to hit or direct the ball or puck.
- ▪ (in field hockey) the foul play of raising the stick above the shoulder.
- ▪ a short, thin piece of wood used to impale food: "lolly sticks"
- ▪ goalposts or cricket stumps. informal
- ▪ a mast or spar. archaic
- ▪ a piece of basic furniture: "every stick of furniture just vanished"
- 2. a long, thin piece of something: "a stick of dynamite"
- ▪ used to refer to a very thin person or limb: "the girl was a stick"
- ▪ (of a figure) drawn with short, thin, straight lines: "stick drawings of a man and girl"
- ▪ a conductor's baton.
- ▪ a gear or control lever.
- ▪ a quarter-pound pack of butter or margarine. US
- ▪ a number of bombs or paratroopers dropped rapidly from an aircraft: "the sticks of bombs rained down"
- ▪ a small group of soldiers assigned to a particular duty: "a stick of heavily armed guards"
- 3. a threat of punishment or unwelcome measures (often contrasted with the offer of reward as a means of persuasion): "training that relies more on the carrot than on the stick"
- 4. severe criticism or treatment: informal British "I took a lot of stick from the press" Similar criticismflakcensurereproachreproofcondemnationcastigationchastisementblameabusepunishmentinformal:a bashinga roastinga caningan earfula bawling-outverbala rollickinga wigginga rocketa rowvulgar slang:a bollockingrare:animadversionOpposite praisecommendation
- 5. rural areas far from cities or civilization: informal, derogatory "he felt hard done by living out in the sticks"
- 6. a person of a specified kind: informal, dated "Janet's not such a bad old stick sometimes"
- 7. a large quantity of unsold stock, especially the proportion of shares which must be taken up by underwriters after an unsuccessful issue.
Word Origin Old Englishsticca ‘peg, stick, spoon’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch stek ‘cutting from a plant’ and German Stecken ‘staff, stick’.
Derivatives
- 1. sticklike adjective
Scrabble Points: 11
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