stick 
and, through OF., ticket, etiquette (from a col- 
lateral Teut. root, stake*, stock*, stain/*, stoke 2 , 
stoker, etc.) ; from the L. root are ult. E. style*, 
distinguish, eftinguisJi, distinct, c.rtii/ct, instinct, 
stimulate, stimulus, instigate, prestige, etc. The 
verb stick*, pierce, has been confused, partly in 
ME. and completely in mod. E., with its deriva- 
tive stick 2 . The reg. mod. pret. of stick* would 
be "stack or "stake (as in ME.), but the pret. has 
yielded to the influence of the pp., and, becom- 
ing "stoke, appears in mod. E. with shortened 
vowel stuck, as also in the pp. (cf. break, pret. 
brake, now liroke, pp. broken; speak, pret. spake. 
now spoke, pp. spoken verbs phonetically par- 
allel to stick*).] I. traits. 1. To pierce or punc- 
ture with a pointed instrument, as a dagger, 
sword, or pin ; pierce ; stab. 
The sowdan and the Cristen everichone 
Ben al tohewe [hewed] and stiked at the bord. 
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 332. 
He drew his shining blade, 
Thinking to stick her where she stood. 
Clerk Cdilill; or, The Mermaid (Child's Ballads, I. 194). 
A villain fitter to stick swine 
Than ride abroad redressing women's wrong. 
Tennyson, Gareth and Lynelte. 
2. To push, thrust, or drive the point or end of, 
as into something which one seeks to pierce, 
or into a socket or other receptacle ; place and 
fix by thrusting into something. 
A broche golde and asure, 
In whiche a ruby set waslik an herte, 
Cryseyde hym gaf, and stak it on his sherte. 
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 1372. 
The Israelites. . . neither prayed to him. neither kissed 
his bones, nor offered, nor sticked up candles before him. 
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc., 1850), p. 123. 
I would not see ... thy fierce sister 
In his anointed flesh slick bearish fangs. 
Shak., Lear, iii. 7. 68. 
3. To thrust; cause to penetrate or enter in 
any way ; loosely, to thrust or put (something) 
where it will remain, without any idea of pene- 
tration. 
Byndez byhynde, at his bak, bothe two his handez . 
Stik hym stifly in stokez. 
Alliteratine Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 157. 
A lean old gentleman . . . stuck his head out of the 
window. J. S. Le Fanu, Dragon Volant, i. 
Behind the said ear was stuck a fresh rose. 
Kingsley, Westward Ho, ii. 
4. To insert in something punctured: as, to 
stick card-teeth ; hence, to set with something 
pointed or with what is stuck in : as, to stick a 
cushion full of pins. 
Tho chambur dore stekes tho vssher thenne 
With preket [candles] and tortes [torches] that conne 
brenne. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 315. 
Biron. A lemon. 
Long. Stuck with cloves. Shak., L. L. L., v. 2. 654. 
5. To thrust or fix upon something pointed: 
as, to stick a potato on a fork. 
Their heads were stuck upon spears. 
Burke, Rev. in France. 
6. In carp., to run or strike (a molding) with a 
molding-plane. 7t. To close; shut; shut up. 
See steek. 
When the kyng had consayuit Cassandra noise 
He comaundet hir be caght, & closit full hard 
In a stithe house of ston stake hir vp fast. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7191. 
Stick a pin there, make a note of that ; take heed of 
that. [Colloq.] To stick offt, to set off ; adorn. Com- 
pare the phrase and quotation under II. 
The humble variety whereof [of the Torch-bearers' hab- 
its] stucke o/ the more amplie the maskers high beauties 
shining in the habits of themselues. 
Chapman, Masque of the Middle Temple. 
To Stick out, to cause to project ; protrude.-To stick 
pigs, to hunt wild hogs with the spear, the hunter being 
mounted, especially in British India. [Colloq.] 
II. intrans. 1. To be fastened or fixed by or 
as by piercing or by insertion ; remain where 
thrust m: as, the arrow sticks in the target. 
Therein stiked a lily flour. Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 1. 196. 
Lucretia's glove, wherein her needle sticks. 
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 317. 
2. To be thrust; extend or protrude in anv di- 
rection. 
She espied his cloven foot, 
From his gay robes sticking thro'. 
The Damon Lover (Child's Ballads, I. 303). 
To Stick offt, to appear to advantage ; show off ; make a 
I'll be your foil, Laertes ; in mine ignorance 
Your skill shall, like a star i' the darkest night 
Sttck fiery o/indeed. Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 268. 
To Stick out, to project; be prominent. 
One hair a little here slicks out, forsooth. 
jB. Jonson, Volpone, Iii. 2. 
To Stick up, to stand up ; be erect. [Colloq.] - To Stick 
up for, to espouse or maintain the cause of ; speak or act 
5942 
in defense of ; defend : as, to stick up for an absent friend ; 
to stick up for the truth or one's rights. [Colloq.] 
Heard him abuse you to Ringwood. Ringwood stuck 
up for yon and for your poor governor spoke up like a 
man like a man who Ktickv up for a fellow who is down. 
Thackeraii, Philip, xl. 
To stick up to. Same as In stand upto (which see, under 
stand). [C'olloq.] 
\o matter how excellent may be the original disposition 
of the head boy, if there is no one who dare stick up to him, 
he soon becomes intolerable. 
Contemporary ]!ei\, LV. 173. 
Stick 1 (stik). it. \_< stick*, i'."] A thrust with a 
pointed instrument which pierces, oris intended 
to pierce. 
stick- (stik), v. ; pret. and pp. stuck (formerly 
sticked), ppr. sticking. [< ME. xticken, stikl.rii, 
stykken, stikrn. xt : /ken. sicken, x/ikicii, sti/kim, 
stekicn (pret. stikede, etc.; also, by conformity 
with stick*, pret. stak, pp. gtalten, xtuki-n), be 
fastened, adhere, also fasten/ AS. sticiii n (pret. 
sticode) (= MLG. sttken), pierce, stab, intr. 
cleave, adhere, stick; a weak form, parallel 
with an unrecorded form to be assumed as the 
cognate of the LG., etc., weak verb, namely 
AS. *steccan = MD. sleeken = MLG. LG. stecken 
= OHG. stecchen, MHG. G. stecken (pret. steckte; 
also, by conformity with steclien, pret. stack), 
stick, set, stick fast, remain, = Sw. stieka = 
Dan. stikke, stab, sting (these appar. due in 
part to the LG. forms cognate with stick*) ; not 
found in Goth., where the form would be "stak- 
jan, standing for "staikjan = AS. as if "stxcan, 
etc., a secondary form from the root "stik, or 
else directly from the root "stak, a collateral 
form of the root "stik : see stick* , and cf . stick'*. 
The forms and senses of the primitive and de- 
rivative verbs become confused, and cannot 
now be wholly separated; in most dictionaries 
the two verbs are completely merged. Under 
stick 2 are put all uses of the verb so spelled 
not clearly belonging originally to stick* or 
sticks. The proper pret. of stick 2 is sticked; 
this has been superseded by stuck, or dial, stack 
(ME. stak), which prop, belongs only to stick*.] 
I. trans. 1. To pierce; stab. See stick*. 2. 
To fasten or attach by causing to adhere: as, 
to stick a postage-stamp on a letter. 
Twenty ballads stuck about the wall. 
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 05. 
You should be on the look-out when Debarry's side have 
stuck up fresh bills, and go and paste yours over them. 
Uearye Eliot, Felix Holt, xxviii. 
3. To cause to come to a stand ; puzzle ; pose. 
[Slang.] 4. To impose upon ; cheat; chouse. 
[Slang.] 
The pawnbrokers have been so often stuck . . . with 
inferior instruments that it is difficult to pledge even a 
really good violin. 
Mayheu; London Labour and London Poor, II. 18. 
The second purchaser found a customer willing to give 
ten francs for it, but the latter's family so ridiculed him 
for having been stuck on the canvas that he put it away 
out of sight in his garret. The American, XIII. 14. 
5. To beat, as at a game of cards: with for be- 
fore the penalty or stake : as, to stick one for the 
drinks at poker. [Slang.]- TO be stuck on, to 
be greatly taken with ; be enamored of. [Slang, I'. SLJ 
To be stuck up, to be proud or conceited. [Colloq.] 
To stick one's self up, to exalt or display one's self 
assert one's self. [Colloq.] To Stick up, to plunder; 
waylay and rob : as, to stick up a mail-coach ; to stick up a 
bank. [Bush-rangers' slang, Australia.) 
Having attacked, or, in Australian phrase, stuck up the 
station, and made prisoners of all the inmates. 
Leisure Uour, March, 1885, p. 192. (Encyc. Diet.) 
II. intrans. 1. To cleave as by attraction or 
adhesion ; adhere closely or tenaciously. 
She nadde on but a streit olde sak, 
And many a cloute on it ther stak. 
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 45t-. 
The gray hairs yet stack to the heft. 
Burns, Tarn o' Shanter. 
And on thy ribs the limpet sticks. 
Tennyson, The Sailor-Boy. 
2. To remain where placed; holdfast: adhere; 
cling; abide. 
A born devil, on whose nature 
Nurture can never stick. Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 189. 
Sow began an ill name to stick upon the Bishops of 
Rome and Alexandria. Milton, Reformation in Eng., ii. 
But finding that they [doubts] still stuck with his follow- 
ers, he took the last and best way of satisfying them. 
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, II. ii. 
" We may teach you to ride by-and-by, I see ; I thought 
not to see you stick on so long ' "I should have 
ttuck on much longer, sir, if her sides had not been wet.' 
./?. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, xi. 
3. To hold or cling in friendship and affection. 
There is a friend that eticketh closer than a brother. 
Prov. xviii. 24. 
stick 
Like true, inseparable, faithful loves, 
Sticking together in calamity. 
Shak., K. John, iii. 4. 07. 
4. To be hindered fi-om proceeding or advan- 
cing; be restrained from moving onward or 
from acting; be arrested in a course, career, 
or progress; be checked or arrested; stop. 
And jit in my synne y stondc and sticke, 
Yuel custiim ys fill hard to blynne. 
Political J'uem.-s, etc. (ed. Furnivall;, p. 197. 
I had most need of blessing, and "Amen" 
Stuck in my throat. Shak., Macbeth, ii. 2. S3. 
We ttuck upon a sand bank so fast that it was after sun- 
set before we could get off. 
tlrtice, Source of the Nile, I. 03. 
5. To be embarrassed or puzzled; be brought 
to a standstill, as by being unable to interpret 
or remember the words one is attempting to 
read or recite. 
They will stick a long time at a part of a demonstration, 
not for want of will and application, but really for want 
of perceiving the connection of two ideas. 
Locke, Conduct of the Understanding, 6. 
Some of the young chaps stick in their parts. They get 
the stace-fevcr and knocking in the knees. 
Mayhcw, London Labour and London Poor, III. 142. 
6. To scruple; hesitate: with at. 
I ... desired his opinin of it, and in particular touch- 
ing the paucity of Auditors, whereat I formerly sticked, 
as you may remember. 
Thomas Adams, in Ellis's Lit. Letters, p. 148. 
To serve him I should, I think, stick at nothing. 
Pepus, Diary, IV. 141. 
To stick at it, to persevere. [Colloq.] To stick by 
(o) To adhere closely to ; be constant or faithful to. 
For, of so many thousands that were vnder mine empire 
you only haue folowed and sticked by me. 
J. Brenae, tr. of Quintus Curtius, v. 
(6) To remain with; abide in the memory or possession 
of : as, ill-gotten gains never stick by a man. 
Nothing Ktickes faster by vs, as appeares, 
Then that which we learne in our tender yeares. 
I'uttcnham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 197. 
To stick in one's gizzard. See gizzard. To stick in 
or to one's fingers, to remain unlawfully in one's hands. 
He was if half Leicester's accusations are to be be- 
lieveda most infamous peculator. One third of the 
money sent by the Queen for the soldiers stuck in his fin- 
Motley, Hist. United Netherlands, II. 87. 
To Stick out, to refuse to comply or come to terms ; hold 
out or hold back: as, to slick out for a better price To 
stick to, to abide firmly and faithfully by ; hold fast to : 
as, to stick to a resolution. 
Stick 2 (stik), . [< sticker.] 1. An adhesion, 
as by attraction or viscosity. 
A magnetic stick between the wheels and the rails which 
largely augments the amount of traction. 
Elect. Rev. (Amer.), XVII. 194. 
2. Hesitation; demur; a stop; a standstill. 
When he came to-the Hill Difficulty, he made no stick 
at that, nor did he much fear the lions. 
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, Sixth Stage. 
3. A strike among workmen. Halliwell. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
stick 3 (stik), . [< ME. sticke. stikke, < AS. 
sticca, a stick, peg, nail, = MD. stick, steek, 
MLG. sticke, LG. stikke = OHG. sticcho, stecciio, 
steclio (> It. stecco, thorn, stccca, staff, F. Eti- 
quette, ticket, etc.), MHG. stecke, stecJie, G. 
stecken, a stick; cf. Icel. stika, stick (for fuel), 
a stick (yard-measure): so called as having 
orig. a sharp point ; from the root of stick* (AS. 
'stecan, etc.): see stick*, stick'*, and cf. stake, 
steak, stitch, stickle*, etiquette, ticket, etc. ; also 
stock*, etc.] 1. A piece of wood, generally 
rather long and slender; a branch of a tree or 
shrub cut or broken off ; also, a piece of wood 
chopped or cut for burning or other use : often 
used figuratively. 
Of all townes, castels, fortes, bridges, and habitations, 
they left not any stick standing. 
Spenser, State of Ireland. 
Wither'd sticks to gather, which might serve 
Against a winter's day. Milton, P. R., I. 316. 
Come, hostess, lay a few more sticks on the fire. And 
now, sing when you will. 
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 174. 
2. A cudgel; a rod; a wand; especially, a 
walking-stick or cane. 
Al-though thow stryke me with thi staffe, with stikke or 
with jerde. Piers Plowman (B), xii. 14. 
Your old friend Mr. Burchell, walking . . . witli the 
great stick for which we used so much to ridicule him ! 
Goldsmith, Vicar, xxx. 
Stick is a large genus, running up from switch to cud- 
gel, from rod to bludgeon. De (Juincey, Homer, ii. 
3. Anything in the form of a stick, or some- 
what long and slender: as, a stick of candy; a 
stick of sealing-wax ; one of the sticks of a fan, 
whether of wood, metal, or other material. 
A painted Landskip Fann, cutt. gilded Sticks. 
Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, 
[I. 170. 
