stick 
4. Specifically (a) The wand or baton with 
which a musical conductor directs a chorus or 
orchestra, (h) The wooden rod or back of a 
bow for playing on a musical instrument of the 
viol class, (c) The wooden roil or wand, with 
a rounded or padded head, with which a drum 
or similar musical instrument is beaten and 
sounded; a drumstick. 5. In /irii/lini/: (n) A 
composing-stick, (h) A piece of furniture used 
to lock up a form iu a chase or galley. It is 
called, according to the place it occupies, licnd- 
stick, font-ntick, .tide-stick, or gutter-stick. 6. 
The rod which is carried by t he head of a rocket, 
and serves to direct its flight. 
Anil the Until event to himself [Mr. Burke] has been 
that, as he rose like a rocket, he fell tike the stick 
T. 1'nine, Letter to the Addressers. 
7. A timber-tree. Hullhrrll. [Prov. Eng.] 
8. Xaiit., a mast: as, the gale was enough to 
blow the sticks out of her. [Humorous.] 9. 
That which is strung on a stick; a string: as, 
a stick of herring. 10. The number of twenty- 
five eels, or the tenth part of a biud, according 
to the old statute de ponderibiis. Also called 
strike. 11. A stick-insect. See stick-bug and 
vaUcing-stiek. 12. A person who is stiff and 
awkward in bearing; hence, a stupid, incapa- 
ble, or incompetent person. [Colloq.j 
I was surprised to see Sir Henry such a stick. Luckily 
the strength of the pieee did not depend upon him. 
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, xiii. 
About the poorest stick for a legislator ever elected. 
New York Tribune, Sept. 4, 1855. 
As cross as two sticks. See ernwi. Devil on two 
sticks. See devil. In a cleft stick. See cleft?. Long 
Stick. In measuring British muslins, long stickis the yard- 
measure of 30 inches and a thumb, equivalent to 37 inches. 
It is used to measure goods for the home market. Goods 
for the foreign market are measured by sliort stick, in which 
the yard consists of 35 inches and a thumb, or about 36 
inches. Middle stick, a measure containing 35J inches 
and a thumb to the yard, or about 3BJ inches. Stick and 
Stone, the whole; everything: as, to leave neither stick 
nor stone standing. Compare stuck and block, under stocki. 
And this it was she swore, never to many 
But such a one whose mighty arm could carry . . . 
Her bodily away through stick and stone. 
Beau, and Ft., Knight of Burning Pestle, ii. 1. 
To beat all to sticks, to outdo completely. [Colloq., 
Eng.] 
Many ladies in Strasburg were beautiful, still 
They were beat all to sticks by the lovely Odille. 
Barhain, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 239. 
To cut one's stick. See nit. To go to sticks and 
staves, to go to pieces ; fall into ruin : in allusion to a 
tub with broken hoops. 
She married a Highland drover or tacksman, I can't tell 
which, and they went all to sticks and staves. 
Miss Ferrier, Inheritance, I. 95. (Jamieson.) 
= Syn. 2. Seesta/. 
Stick 3 (stik), v.t. [< sticks, .] 1. To furnish 
or set with sticks, as for climbing upon : said 
of peas. 
But I ... must . . . go stick some rows of peas which 
are already flourishing in our new garden. 
Carlyle, in Froude, First Forty Years, xxiv. 
I was stickinff peas in my own garden. 
Jean Ingelow, Fated to be Free, vi. 
2. In printing, to arrange in a composing-stick; 
compose : as, to stick type. 
stickadoret, stickadovet (stik'a-dor, -duv), n. 
[Also stickadoiie, sticadoue, stickado, steckado, 
sticados; < P. stechados(Cotgvave), for corrupt 
forms of NL. stoechados, Jlos stcechados, flower 
of Stcechas : stcechados, gen. of Stoechas, q. v.] 
A species of lavender, Lavandula Steechas, used 
officinally. See lavender'*. 
Stick-bait (stik' bat), . Insects or worms f ound 
sticking to the under surface of stones, and 
used as bait. [North Carolina.] 
1. Any orthopterous 
Stick-bug (stik'bug), 
insect of the family 
Phasmidee: particularly 
applied to Diapheromeru 
femorata, the common- 
est insect of this kind in 
the United States, where 
it is also called wood- 
horse, stick-insect, tieig- 
bitfi, tirig-inxcct, walking- 
ttcig, n'(i!kini/-stick, prai- 
rie-alligator, specter, and 
deril's horse. See cut 
under Phasma. [Local, 
U.S.] 2. A predaceous 
reduvioid bug of the 
United States, Emesa 
longipes, with a long 
slender brown body and 
long spider-like legs, the front pair of which 
are raptorial ; the spider-bug. When lodged on a 
Stick-bug (Emesa longipts >. 
5948 
twig, it swings its body back anil forth Ilk, > ,mr of the 
daddy-long-legs. This insect resembles some . it the 1'lut* 
midx, which receive the same name, but belongs to a dif- 
ferent order. 
Stick-CUlture (stik'kul tiir), n. A bacterial 
culture made by thrusting a platinum needle 
(sterilized and then dipped into a growth of the 
microbe or other material to be examined) into 
the culture-medium, as a tube of gelatin. 
Stickedt. An obsolete past participle uf stick". 
Sticker 1 (stik'er), H. [< stick* + -<;!.] 1. ( )ne 
who or that which sticks or stabs; especially. 
one who kills swine or other animals by stick- 
ing or stabbing. 
Master Burdell the pig-butcher, and his foreman, or, as 
he was more commonly called, Sam the Sficto t\ 
Hood, Sketches on the Road, The Sudden Death. 
2. An anglers' gaff. [Slang.] 3. A sharp re- 
mark or an embarrassing question, intended or 
adapted to silence or pose a person. Thackerai/. 
Sticker 2 (stik'er), n. [< stick? + -er 1 .] 1. One 
who adheres, clings, or sticks to anything. 
Although culture makes us tondstickers to no machinery, 
not even our own. M. Arnold, Culture and Anarchy, Pref. 
2. One who sticks, or causes to adhere, as by 
pasting. 
The bill-sticker, whose large flat basket, stutfed with 
placards, leaned near him against the settle. 
George Kliot, Felix Holt, xxvlii. 
3. Same as paster, '2. 4. An article of mer- 
chandise which sticks by the dealer and does 
not meet with a ready sale. [U. S.] 5. In 
organ-building, a wooden rod serving to trans- 
mit motion between the ends of two recipro- 
cating levers. Stickers are usually held in place by 
pins in their ends, which work freely in holes or slots in 
the lever-ends. See cut under organ. 
6. pi. The arms of a crank-axis employed to 
change the plane and direction of a reciprocat- 
ing motion. For distinction the arms are thus named 
when they act by compression, and are called trackers 
when they act by tension. The axis is termed a roller. 
Stickful (stik'ful), . [< sticks + .//.] i u 
printing, as much composed type as can be con- 
tained in a composing-stick. 
stick-handle (stik'han'dl), . The handle of 
a walking-stick. See cane 1 . 
Stick-helmet (stik'hel"met), w. A mask with 
additional guards for the forehead and head, 
used in cudgel-play. 
stickiness (stik'i-nes), n. The property of being 
sticky, adhesive, or tenacious; viscousness; 
glutinousness. 
sticking 1 (stik'ing), n. [Verbal n. of stick 1 , .] 
The act of stabbing or piercing, (a) The act of 
thrusting a knife or spear into the neck or body of a beast. 
Hence (6) pi. The part of a beast's neck where it is 
stabbed by the butcher ; a coarse and cheap cut of beef 
or pork. 
The meat is bought in "pieces," of the same part as 
the sausage-makers purchase the stickings at about 
"i/. the pound. 
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, 1. 190. 
(c) Stitching ; needlework. [Scotch, iu the form steekiny. ] 
The cloth of it was satin flue, 
And the steeking silken wark. 
The Jolly Goshawk (Child's Ballads, III. 281)). 
sticking" (stik'ing), . [Verbal n. of stick 2 , .] 
1. The act of coming to a stop. Compare stick- 
ing-place. 
All stickings and hesitations seem stupid and stony. 
Donne, Letters, iv. 
Specifically 2. pi. The last of a cow's milk; 
shippings. [Prov. Eng.] 
Sticking-place (stik'ing-plas), . The point 
where anything sticks, stays, or stops ; a place 
of stay. 
Which flower out of my hand shall never passe, 
But in my heart shall have a sticking-place. 
Gorgeous Gallery of Gallant Inventions (1578), quoted in 
[Furness's Variorum Shakespeare, Macbeth. 
But screw your courage to the sticking-place, 
And we'll not fail. Shak., Macbeth, i. 7. 00. 
sticking-plaster (stik' ing -plas'ter), n. 1. 
Same as resin plaster (which see, under plas- 
ter). 2. Court-plaster. 
In the reign of Charles I suns, moons, stars, and 
even coaches and four were cut of sticking plaister, and 
stuck on the face. 
J. Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, I. 169. 
sticking-point (stik 'ing -point), H. Same as 
sticking-place. 
One sight of thee would nerve me to the sticking-point. 
Disraeli, Alroy, 1. 2. 
stick-insect (stik'in"sekt), . Same as stick- 
bug, 1. See walking-stick. 
stick-in-the-mud (stik'in-the-mud'), n. An old 
fogy; a slow or insignificant person. [Colloq.] 
This rusty colored one [a pin] is that respectable old 
stick-in-thf-mud, JJicias. 
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, I. x. 
stickleback 
Stickit(stik'it ),/<.. [Sc. form of '/.<</. pp. of 
stick- (and stick 1 ).] Stuck. | Scotch. ] stlckit 
minister, in Scotland, n student f theiilnjtv who fails !<. 
obtain lici.-n.sL', ->r a lieentiatc \*ho fails tu obtain a pas- 
toral charge. 
He became totally inrapable of pjoceedintr in his in- 
tended discoinsc . . . sbllt tile 1'ibie stumbled du n 
the pill pit stalls, 1 1 am [lit nt: up' in t lie i ild women who ifen- 
erally take their stai inn tltei :nnl u ;i~ . \ er alter desig- 
nated as a .~tif!,,t nnniHlt'T. >'<'<>lt. tiny MannciiiiK, ii. 
Stick-lac (stik'lak). ii. See /<-. 1. 
Stickle 1 (stik'l), n. [< ME. 'xtikil, "xti/ki/l (in 
comp. ). < AS. stii'il 'also, with diff. format i\e. 
slicclx), ,-i prickle, stiii^'. = Ml>. .ttil.el, later 
xlic/.-i't, 1). .tlikcl = \A1. .tlikkil (in comp.), dflO 
slikkc = OIK!, .tticliil. MIKJ. sliclicl, <!. dial. 
sticki I, a prickle, sting, = I eel. stikill, the pointed 
end of a horn, = Norw. stikcl, a prickle (cf. 
^[D.8taekel,OnQ.ittac)mUa. .ttacciinila..ttaciii/in, 
stacliila, MUG. G. stachel, a thorn, prickle, 
sting); akin to sticca, etc.. a, (pointed) stick 
(see stick'*), < "stecan, pierce, prick, stick: see 
sticki.'] A sharp point; a prickle; a spine. 
[Obsolete, except in stickleback, xtick/i -\tu\red, 
slickly, and the local name Pike o' Stickle, one 
of the two Pikes of Langdale in England.] 
stickle 2 (stik'l), n. and . [Early mod. E.also 
stikle; < ME. stikcl, < AS. sticol, sticel, steep, 
high, inaccessible, <*.vtew(, pierce, prick, slick: 
seeirWct 1 .] I. a. 1. Steep; high; inaccessible. 
2. High, as the water of a river; swollen; 
sweeping; rapid. 
When they came thither, the riuerof the Shenln, which 
inuironeth and runneth round about the citfe, they found 
the same to be so deepe and stikle that they could not passe 
oner the same. Giraldus Cambrenfix, Conq. of Ireland, 
[p. 37 (Holinshed's I'hron., I ). 
II. . 1. A shallow iii a river where the wa- 
ter, being confined, runs with violence. 
Patient anglers standing all the day 
Neare to some shallow stickle or deepe bay. 
W. Browne, Britannia s Pastorals, Ii. 4. 
2. A current below a waterfall. 
The water runs down with a strong, sharp stickle, and 
then has a sudden ellKiw in it, where the small brook 
trickles in. R. D. Blaekmore, Lorna Doone, vii. 
[Prov. Eng. in all uses.] 
Stickle 3 (stik'l), r. ; pret. and pp. stickled, ppr. 
stickling. [A mod. var. of stiyh tie, which also 
appears (with a reg. change of the orig. gut- 
tural gh to/) as stifflc: see stightlc. In defs. 
II., 2, 3, the sense has been influenced by asso- 
ciation with sticks.] I.| trans. To interpose in 
and put a stop to ; mediate between ; pacify. 
They ran unto him, and pulling him back, then too fee- 
ble for them, by force stickled that unnatural fray. 
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i. 
II. intrans. If. To interpose between com- 
batants and separate them ; mediate; arbitrate. 
There had been blood shed if I had not stickled. 
W. Cartwriaht, The Ordinary (Hazlitt's Dodsley, XII. 276). 
2. To take part with one side or the other; 
uphold one party to a dispute. 
Fortune (as she 's wont) turn'd tickle, 
And for the foe began to xtickle. 
S. Butler, Hudibras, I. iii. 61B. 
You, Bellmour, are bound in Gratitude to stickle for him ; 
you with Pleasure reap that Fruit which he takes pains 
to sow. Conyreve, Old Batchelor, 1. 4. 
3. To contest or contend pertinaciously on in- 
sufficient grounds ; insist upon some trifle. 
I hear no news about your bishops, farther than that 
the lord lieutenant stickles to have them of Ireland. 
Swift, Letter, May 13, 1727. 
4. To hesitate. 
Some . . . stickle not to aver that you are cater-cousin 
with Beelzebub himself. 
Barhant, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 12*2. 
5. To play fast and loose ; waver from one side 
to the other; trim. 
stickleback (stik'1-bak), n. [Also corruptly 
xticklebarj, and metamorphosed tittlebat; < ME. 
"stikelbak, stykylbak; < stickle 1 - + back*-. Cf. 
thorxbacJc, and see stickling. ] Any fish of the 
family Gasteroxtcidse : so called from the sharp 
Two-spiiied Stickleback {C.asttrestrui acultatust. 
(From Report of U. S. Fish Commission.) 
spines of the back. They are small flshes, a few Inches 
long, of 5 genera, Qastenstetis, Pi/ffosteus, Eitcalia, Aftltes, 
and Spinachia. but very pugnacious and rapacious, 
being especially destructive to the spawn and fry of 
many larger flshes. They inhabit fresh waters and 
sea-arms of northern Europe, Asia, and North America 
