Pa. t. and pa. pple. stuck. Forms: 1 stician, stycian, 3–6 stike, stik, (3 stikie), 4–6 styke, stycke, (4 stiken, stic), 5 styk(k)yn, 6 stikk, styk(ke, styck, 6–7 sticke, 6– stick. Pa. t. α. 1 sticade, sticode, 3–4 stikede, 4 stikid(e, 4–5 stiked, styk(k)ed, 5 stickede, stykkit, (stikt, stickyd), 5–6 stycked, 6 styckyd, (stykkyd), (Sc. stiket, stikit, stikkit), 6–7 stickt, 6–9 Sc. sticket, -it, 5–7, 9 dial. sticked; β. 5 (9 Sc.) stak, 5–7 stacke, 5–7, 8–9 arch. and north. stack; γ. 6 stoke, stocke, 7 stooke, 6–7 stucke, 6– stuck. Pa. pple. α. 1 sticod, 3–4 ystiked, 3–5 stiked, 4 styked, istiked, ystikked, stikked, stiken, stickid, 4–5 stikid, 4–6 stycked, 5–6 sticked, 6–7 stickt, 6 stickte, stickyd, Sc. stikkit, 6–9 Sc. stickit, sticket; β. 6 stacke, 9 dial. stack; γ 6 stoke(n, 6–7 stucke, (6 Sc. stukne), 7 stucken, 7– stuck. [OE. stician wk. v., f. Teut. root *stik- to pierce, be sharp (whence STICK, STITCH sbs.):—Indogermanic *stig- (: *steig-) found in Gr. στίζειν (:—*stigy-) to prick, στιγμή, στίγμα prick, point (see STIGMA), L. instīgāre to spur on, INSTIGATE; also with nasal infix, in Goth. stigqan to thrust, L. -stinguĕre to prick (distinguĕre to distinguish); and without initial s in Skr. tij- to be sharp, tigmá sharp. The Teut. root chiefly appears in the altered form *stek- (*stak- : *stǣk.), as in the Com. WGer. strong verb *stekan to prick, thrust: see STEEK v. The formal equivalent of OE. *stician (WGer. type *stikōjan, *stekōjan, prob. denominative) occurs in OHG. stehhôn to prick, stab, cut the throat of; a parallel formation (WGer. type *stikkjan, also prob. denominative) is found as (M)Du., (M)LG. stikken to prick, pierce, stab, also to embroider (Sw. sticka, Da. stikke from LG.), OHG. sticchen in the same senses (MHG., mod.G. sticken to embroider).
It is impossible accurately to separate the history of this originally weak verb from that of the originally strong STEEK v.2 The latter was from an early period sometimes conjugated weak, while on the other hand the strong inflexions of steek became associated with stick, which, moreover, in the 16th c. formed a new strong pa. t. and pa. pple. stuck (cf. dig, dug). It is therefore often doubtful to which verb forms like stack, stoken, should be referred. Further, in some northern dialects the ME. stīke is normally represented by stēke, and therefore coincides (at least graphically) with STEEK v.2 The wk. form sticked remained in somewhat common use until the 17th c., and still survives (in certain senses) in Sc. and various dialects (see Eng. Dial. Dict.).]
I. To pierce, thrust.
1. trans. To stab, pierce or transfix with a thrust of a spear, sword, knife, or other sharp instrument; to kill by this means, more explicitly to stick to death. Also refl. Not now in dignified use.
a. 900. O. E. Martyrol., 15 Nov., 206. Þa he þæt nolde, þa stycodon hiʓ hyne myd hyra sperum.
a. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., I. x. [xiii.] (1890), 48. Betwih him twam we þus tweofealdne deað þrowiað, oððe sticode beoð oððe on sæ adruncene.
c. 1205. Lay., 20659. Heo … sikeden & sloȝen al þat heo neh comen. Ibid., 20962. Alle þa gode wiues heo stikeden mid cnifes.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 21124. Men sais he stiked was wit suord.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 3527. Syþen wiþ swerd & knyf þey met; Ilk oþer on ran ilk oþer to styke.
13[?]. Will. Palerne, 3818. Many a stef stede [was] stiked þere to dethe.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), IV. 471. He ordeyned him … to cacche flyes, and styke hem wiþ a scharp poyntel.
a. 1395. Hylton, Scala Perf. (W. de W., 1494), I. xxxv. The sharpe spere that stykked hym to the hert.
1422. Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., 153. Whan he apercewid that scappe he ne myght, he raane to a stake and hym Stickyd throw the body.
1529. Rastell, Pastyme, Brit. Hist. (1811), 285. The moost comyn tale was that he [Hen. VI.] was stycked with a dagger, by ye handes of Rycharde, duke of Gloucester.
1556. Olde, Antichrist, 90 b. He was taken and sticked to deathe.
1615. Sylvester, Job Triumph., II. 319. With Vipers’ tongues hee shall be deadly stuck.
1619. Drayton, Ballad Agincourt, 72. Like a Storme suddenly, The English Archery Stuck the French Horses.
1705. Vanbrugh, Confed., IV. i. G 4 b. If I had let him stick himself, I shou’d have been envy’d by all the great Ladies in the Town.
1832. Examiner, 98/1. Were he to draw his bayonet and stick the brawler.
1842. Borrow, Bible in Spain, xxvi. If I had my knife here I would stick him.
fig. a. 1300. Cursor M., 11370. Þin aghen hert A sorful suerd sal stik ouerthuert. Ibid., 24100. On mi soru mai be nan end, It stikes me sua strang.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., I. ii. 254. My Fathers rough and enuious disposition Sticks me at heart. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., III. ii. 202. Yea, let them say, to sticke the heart of falsehood, As false as Cressid.
absol. 1530. Tindale, Expos. Matt. v.–vii. (? 1550), 99 b. The scrybes and pharyseyes had thruste vp the swerde of the worde of God into a scabard … that it coulde neither sticke nor cutte.
1822. Shelley, Faust, ii. 172. [Chorus of Witches] Stick with the prong, and scratch with the broom.
b. Of a horned animal: To pierce with the tusks, to impale with the horns; to gore. Also absol. Now dial.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., IV. I. § 5. Þa, siþþan he irre wæs & ʓewundod, he … þa oþre elpendas sticade & gremede.
c. 1890. W. G. Lyttle, Adv. Robin Gordon, Robin’s Read., II. 18 (E.D.D.). Tell’t hir about the goat neer stickin’ her.
c. To kill (an animal, esp. a pig) by thrusting a knife into its throat. Also transf.
13[?]. Pol. Songs (Camden), 190. Hue leyȝen y the stretes y.styked ase swyn.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, VII. v. 220. Hym bysemeth better to stycke a swyne than to sytte afore a damoysel of hyhe parage.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., I. i. 108. If the ground be ouer-charg’d, you were best sticke her.
1594. Lyly, Mother Bombie, V. iii. I had thought they had beene sticking of pigs, I heard such a squeaking.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle, II. (1871), 25. For all thou lookest soe big, Thou never yet durst see a sillie pig Stucke to the heart.
1884. Tennyson, Becket, I. iii. By God’s death, thou shalt stick him like a calf!
d. Sport. To spear (a salmon). To stick a pig (in India): to hunt the wild boar with a spear. (Cf. PIGSTICKING, etc.)
1820. Scott, Monast., Introd. Ep. I have seen the fundations [of the old drawbridge] when we were sticking saumon.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lxiii. He wrote off to Chutney … that he was going to show his friend … how to stick a pig in the Indian fashion.
1891. ‘Lucas Malet,’ Wages of Sin, I. II. ii. 107. He had regarded India as an awfully jolly place where you shot tigers, and stuck pigs, and played polo.
e. To make holes in (something) with a pointed instrument. rare.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Eng. Housekpr. (1805), 102. Stick your neck [of mutton] all over in little holes with a sharp penknife.
2. To thrust (a dagger, a spear, a pointed instrument) in, into, through.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 707. Loue hath his firy dart so brennyngly Ystiked thurgh my trewe careful herte.
1569. Underdown, Ovid’s Invect. Ibis, L j. And that a shafte stoke in thy heart, may take thy life away.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., III. i. 115. Thou stick’st a dagger in me.
1607. Chapman, Bussy d’Ambois, V. iii. 61. Or thou great Prince of shades where neuer sunne Stickes his far-darted beames.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., I. 7. The Bride-groome entring the Church, sticks his dagger in the doore.
1872. A. S. Packard, Guide Study Insects (ed. 3), 428. The pin should be stuck through the right elytron.
fig. a. 1400. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., xliii. 254. And þat loue mote also faste In-to myn herte stykyd be, As was þe spere in-to þin herte.
† b. To stick the point: to prove conclusively.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., VI. 268. This Quaternion of Subscribers, have stick’n the point dead with me that all antient English Monks were Benedictines.
c. To stick one’s eyes in: to subject to a piercing gaze. Sc. and dial.
1456. Sir G. Hay, Gov. Princes, Wks. (S.T.S.), II. 110. Scho stykkit hir eyne in a man as scho wald throu lukand perse him with her sycht.
1898. S. MacManus, Bend of Road, 218. Masther Whoriskey is sittin’ … with his eyes stuck in poor Mary as if he wanted to overlook her.
d. indirect passive.
1869. Tozer, Highl. Turkey, II. 16. A huge lump … which he carried over his shoulder, stuck through with a pole.
3. To thrust, push forward, protrude (one’s head, hand, etc.) in, into, over something. Also with out.
1627. May, Lucan, VI. L 2 b. She … from their orbes doth teare His congeal’d eyes, and stickes her knucles there.
1713. Berkeley, Guardian, No. 39, ¶ 2. Prejudice in the figure of a woman standing … with her eyes close shut, and her forefingers stuck in her ears.
1834. M. Scott, Cruise Midge, viii. A number of joyous faces were stuck over the hammock cloths reconnoitring us.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 43. Stick the ends of your fingers in this, and then lightly go over the glass.
1893. Stevenson, Catriona, ii. And that’s what makes me think so much of ye—you that’s no Stewart—to stick your head so deep in Stewart business.
1907. Le Fanu, Dragon Volant, i. A lean old gentleman … stuck his head out of the window.
1914. A. Bennett, Price of Love, 207. She belonged to the middle class … the class that sticks its chin out and gets things done.
b. intr. To project, protrude. Now only const. from, out of. Cf. stick out, 32 a.
1580. Blundevil, Curing Horses Dis., cxiii. 52 b. Thrust in one of the pinnes from aboue downeward, so as both ends may equallie sticke without the skin.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. III. v. Or what is this that sticks visible from the lapelle of Chevalier de Court?
1886. Stevenson, Kidnapped, xv. I saw a steel butt of a pistol sticking from under the flap of his coat-pocket.
II. To remain fixed.
4. intr. Of a pointed instrument: To remain with its point imbedded; to be fixed by piercing. More explicitly to stick fast († still).
c. 1000. Ælfric, Judges iii. 23. He forlet þa þat swurd stician on him.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 23. Hu mei þe leche þe lechnien þa hwile þet iren sticat in þine wunde.
c. 1290. St. Edmund, 47, in S. Eng. Leg., 298. Þe Arewene stikeden on him ful þicke.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, I. iii. 40. Theryn stack a fayre swerd naked by the poynt.
1483. Caxton, Golden Leg., 173/3. His staffe sprange out of hys honde … and … styked faste in the erthe.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss. (1812), I. ccclxxiv. 621. The spere brake, and the tronchion stacke styll in the squiers necke.
1538. in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden), 198. Sum [of them] feytynge so that the knyffe hathe stoken in the bone.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 317. By the light he spies Lucrecias gloue, wherein her needle sticks.
c. 1622. Ford, etc. Witch Edmonton, II. i. (1658), 19. A Burbolt, which sticks at this hour up to the Feathers in my heart.
1867. Morris, Jason, IV. 316. Bleeding from arm and back Wherein two huntsmen’s arrows lightly stack.
1884. W. C. Smith, Kildrostan, 36. Where the joints are there the arrow sticks.
fig. a. 1225. Ancr. R., 60. Erest heo scheot þe earewen of þe liht eien, þat fleoð lichtliche uorð,… & stikeð iðe heorte.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Doctor’s T., 211. Vpon hir humble face he gan biholde, With fadres pitee stikynge thurgh his herte.
1621. T. Williamson, trans. Goulart’s Wise Vieillard, 154. When hee [the infernall serpent] first bit and stung our first mother Eue, leauing fast sticking in vs the sting of sinne.
1851. Kingsley, Misc. (1859), I. 366. Phrases … which stick, like barbed arrows, in the memory of every reader.
† b. To be fastened (in something) by having its end thrust or driven in. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 196. Vp on his Creest He bar a tour And ther Inne stiked a lilie flour.
1515. Barclay, Egloges, I. Argt. In the side of his felte there stacke a spone of tree.
1595. Shaks., John, II. 317. There stucke no plume in any English Crest, That is remoued by a staffe of France.
† 5. Of things: To be fastened in position; to be fixed in or as in a socket; to be attached. Obs.
c. 888. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxix. § 7. Swa swa þa spacan sticiað oðer ende on þære felʓe oþer on þære nafe.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1186. O perle, quod I … If hit be ueray & soth sermoun, Þat þou so stykes in garlande gay, [etc.].
a. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 7633. Seven planetes er oboven us;… Þai styk noght fast, als smale sternes dose.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, VII. xxii. 243. Dame Lynet … enoynted it … there as it was smyten of, and in the same wyse she dyd to the other parte there as the hede stak. And thenne she sette it to gyders and it stak as fast as euer it did.
1567. Golding, Ovid’s Met., III. 39. Three spirting tongues, three rowes of teeth within his head did sticke.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. cxlii. 1. Lord, thou … knowst each path where stick the toyls of danger.
1665. Bunyan, Holy Citie, 173. We shall stick like Pearls in the Crowns of the twelve Apostles.
1673. Grew, Anat. Pl., VI. iv. § 9. The particles … of Salt stick in them, as the Spokes do in the Hub of a Wheel, or as the Quills in the skin of a Porcupine.
b. In phrases with full, close, expressive of crowding to the utmost. [Cf. G. stecken.]
c. 1400. Brut, cv. 107. Þai … made Archires to him shote with Arwes, til þat his body stickede alse ful of Arwes as an hirchone is ful of prickes.
1776. G. Semple, Building in Water, 9. Make … a solid Foundation … of Piles … driven in as close together as ever they can stick.
1889. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Robbery under Arms, xxviii. She … was … as full of fun and games as she could stick.
6. Chiefly of persons: To continue or remain persistently in a place. Now only colloq.
c. 888. Ælfred, Boeth., iv. Sticiað ʓehydde beorhte cræftas.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 214. Þe ȝiure glutun is þes feondes manciple. Uor he stikeð euer iðe celere, oðer iðe kuchene.
c. 1290. Miȝhel, 782, in S. Eng. Leg., 322. Þulke [soul] þat halt ane Mannes lijf and stikez in þe heorte.
1537. Original of Sectes, 2. So agayn may one be out of ye world wt his body & styck myddes in ye world wt his harte.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades, I. viii. (1592), 68/2. Our Lord died … but hee taried not, nor yet stack faste amonge the deed.
1638. W. Haig, in J. Russell, Haigs, viii. (1881), 219. The longer I stick here the more I consume myself in expense.
1844. Lillywhite’s Handbk. Cricket, 18. Whenever you find two batsmen sticking at their wickets … try a change [of bowling].
1876. T. Hardy, Ethelberta, xxviii. I’ll stick where I am, for here I am safe as to food and shelter.
1882. E. A. Freeman, Lett., 18 April (MS.). There I should like to stick.
b. fig. (Sometimes with mixture of sense 4; cf. also sense 8.) Of feelings, thoughts, etc.: To remain permanently in the mind.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 26927. [The soul cannot be healed of sin] To-quils it stikand es þar-in.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 5166. No make no sorowe, ne myslyke, Þat wanhope In þyn herte styke.
c. 1430. Chev. Assigne, 241. That [saying] styked styffe in here brestes þat wolde þe qwene brenne.
1535. Starkey, Lett., 15 Feb., in England (1878), p. xiv. Yf euer any of thes … dow styke in your memory & mynd, I besech you let the few wordys … be put in the nombur of them.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., I. v. 41. Alex. His speech stickes in my heart. Cleo. Mine eare must plucke it thence.
1666. Pepys, Diary, 17 Aug. It sticks in the memory of most merchants how the late King … was persuaded in a strait … to seize upon the money in the Tower.
1741. Watts, Improv. Mind, I. xvii. (1801), 143. And a hundred proverbial sentences … are formed into rhyme or a verse, whereby they are made to stick upon the memory.
1891. Meredith, One of our Conq., xxviii. But again, ‘the meaning of it past date,’ stuck in her memory.
† c. To linger, dwell on a point in discourse. Const. in, upon. Obs.
1547. J. Harrison, Exhort. Scottes, 218. In which point I will not muche stycke.
1586. W. Webbe, Eng. Poetrie (Arb.), 91. Therefore this last kinde of errour is not to be stucke vppon.
1599. Rollock, Serm., vii. Wks. 1849, I. 380. Then ze see heir ane revelation be the Spreit. Mark it, I sall stick sum thing on the wordis.
a. 1646. Burroughes, Exp. Hosea vi. 108. That principally which we must stick upon a while, which is intended here in the Text most of all.
† d. To stop, end one’s discourse. Obs.
1563. Homilies, II. Rogation Week, i. N nnniiij b. And this once pronounced, he stacke not styl at this poynt: but forthwith thervpon ioyned to these wordes. To hym be glory … for euer. Amen.
1680. H. More, Apocal. Apoc., 310. We are never the wiser what Empire certainly to pitch upon if the Angel stick here; and therefore he holds on.
† 7. To remain firm, continue steadfast, stand fast; to be determined to do something; to persist in (an opinion, etc.); to be persistently engaged upon. Obs. Cf. stick to, 26.
1447. Shillingford Lett. (Camden), 11. Apon this mene he stiked faste, and thoghte hit was resonable.
c. 1500. in W. Denton, Eng. in 15th C. (1888), 319. Bott I meruell grettly that ye styke so sore to make thaym to gyffe more then othere men hase gyffen afore.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 8 b. All persones that wyll not be counseyled … but stycke fast in theyr owne blynde fantasy.
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus., 1. But he still sticking in his opinion, the two gentlemen requested mee to examine his reasons.
1607. Tourneur, Rev. Trag., V. i. I 1 b. Could you not stick: see what confession doth?
c. 1698. Locke, Cond. Underst., § 25, Wks. 1714, III. 411. If the Matter be knotty, and the Sence lies deep, the Mind must stop and buckle to it, and stick upon it with Labour and Thought.
b. To keep persistently at.
1886. G. Allen, Maimie’s Sake, xxii. We’ve stuck awfully close at this thing while we’ve been working at it.
c. trans. (slang.) To put up with, endure association with, tolerate (a person). Also to stick it, to continue what one is doing without flinching.
1899. Daily News, 26 Oct., 6/6. He got on all right with his wife, but he could not ‘stick’ his mother-in-law. Ibid. (1900), 1 Jan., 3/2. They’re big men, and they look as if they can ‘stick it.’
1905. A. W. A. Pollock, in Macm. Mag., Nov., 68. Sergeant Chambers shouted back, ‘Go to hell!’ and to his men he cried, ‘Stick it!’ J. Masefield, in Ibid. (1907), Feb., 320. Dick had pulled out for home because ‘he couldn’t stick that Mr. Jenkins.’
8. intr. Of things: To remain attached or fastened by adhesion, to adhere, hold, cleave. Const. on, to, unto, in. See also stick together, 33.
1558. Warde, trans. Alexis’ Secr., 21 b. Take the flower, that sticketh on the bourdes and walles of a Mille.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXXV. vi. II. 528. As for Sinopis … That which stucke fast unto the rockes, excelleth all the rest.
1617. Moryson, Itin., I. 60. Sounding with our plummet, sand of Amber stuck thereto.
1679. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., ix. 160. Should the Augure-hole be too wide, the Shank would be loose in it, and not stick strong enough in it.
1747. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, ii. 14. Take care they don’t stick to the Bottom of the Pan.
1759. R. Brown, Compl. Farmer, 104. First wet both the bag and the press to keep the wax from sticking.
1855. Browning, The Twins, i. Do roses stick like burrs?
1861. Lowell, Biglow P., Ser. II. i. 73. We’ll try ye fair, ole Grafted-leg, an’ ef the tar wun’t stick, Th’ ain’t not a juror [etc.].
1868–70. Morris, Earthly Par., I. i. 450. But when that he Gat hold of it [sc. a stone upon the floor], full fast it stack.
Proverbial. 1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xxiii. Hout tout, man! let that flee stick in the wa’…; when the dirt’s dry it will rub out.
1911. Concise Oxf. Dict., s.v., If you throw mud enough, some of it will stick.
b. To stick to (occas. in, † by, † on) a person’s fingers: said fig. of money dishonestly retained.
1576. [see TELLER 2].
1660. Marq. Worcester, in Dircks, Life, xiv. (1865), 229. Nothing hath stuck to my fingers, in order to benefit or self-interest.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, VII. xv. (Rtldg.), 11. Probably something still stuck by the fingers.
1826. Lamb, Pop. Fallacies, ii. Some portions of it [alienated Church property] somehow always stuck so fast, that the denunciators have been fain to postpone the prophecy.
1860. Motley, Netherl., x. II. 87. He was … a most infamous peculator. One-third of the money sent by the Queen for the soldiers stuck in his fingers.
c. fig. in various uses. Of a fact, a saying: To abide in one’s memory. Of an imputation: To be fastened upon a person. Of opinions, feelings, habits: To be fixed, not to be shaken off.
1605. Shaks., Macb., V. ii. 17. Now do’s he feele His secret Murthers sticking on his hands.
1677. Sir C. Wyche, in Essex Papers (Camden), II. 140. My Lord Treasurer has cleared himself of those things which seemed to stick upon him in relation to the excise.
1751. Chesterf., Lett., cclxx. It is commonly said … that ridicule is the best test of truth; for that it will not stick where it is not just.
1820. Scott, Monast., Answ. Introd. Ep. For MacDuff’s peculiarity sticks to your whole race.
1839. Longf., Life (1891), I. 331. I quote him [Horace]; because his phrases stick.
1845. Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. 39. A bad character sticks to a country as well as to an individual.
1857. W. Collins, Dead Secret, VI. i. The same fear that she had all the way from this house, still sticks to her.
† 9. To be joined as an appendage to. Obs.
1631. Widdowes, Nat. Philos., 61. The Stomacke is a part like perchment, sticking to the throat.
1650. Howell, Giraffi’s Rev. Naples, I. 25. The Vice-King … remov’d himself … to castelnuovo, which sticks to the Royall Palace, there being a bridge to passe between.
10. Of a living creature: To cling to, on, upon. To stick on, to (a horse), to keep one’s seat on.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 62. The hail peple … saw … mony thousandis of sik lytle foules stiking to the schip.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 2. [The flea’s] feet are slit into claws or talons, that he might the better stick to what he lights upon.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 54. He hoists himself … upon … a Horse, and sticks as close to him with his Thighs, as if he were got cross a Yard-Arm.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1770), VII. 310. The … leeches … stuck to her so close, that the poor creature expired from the quantity of blood which she lost.
1861. Tennyson, Sailor Boy, iii. And on thy ribs the limpet sticks.
1872. Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 38/2. To learn how to stick on a horse’s back.
1881. A. C. Grant, Bush-Life Queensland, ix. (1882), 82. He tried his hand at sticking to some of the more notorious youngsters [horses].
fig. 1843. Carlyle, Past & Pr., II. iv. 78. Every fresh Jew sticking on him like a fresh horse-leech.
absol. 1869. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, xi. I should have stuck on much longer, sir, if her [a pony’s] sides had not been wet.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, iv. His riding was not a masterly performance, but at all events he stuck on.
b. trans. To retain one’s seat on (a horse).
1844. W. H. Maxwell, Scotland, iii. (1855), 42. I’ll never stick him bare-backed.
11. intr. To be set fast or entangled in sand, clay, mud, mire, and the like; similarly of a boat, to become fixed or grounded on sand, a rock, etc.; more explicitly to stick fast.
c. 888. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxvii. § 2. Ʒesihst þu nu … on hu þiostrum horoseaðe þara unðeawa ða yfelwillendan sticiað [L. quanto in cœno probra volvantur].
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man of Law’s T., 411. And in the sond hir ship stiked so faste That thennes wolde it noght of al a tyde.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, I. i. 80. Scho with a thuid stikkit on ane scharp roike.
1530. Palsgr., 733/2. I stycke fast in a myer or a maresse, je me arreste.
1590. Acts Privy Council (1899), XIX. 406. The Thames is soe shallowe in divers places as boates and barges doe sticke by the waie.
1611. Bible, Acts xxvii. 41. They ranne the shippe a ground, and the forepart stucke fast.
1665. Manley, Grotius Low-C. Warres, 514. Unpassable Marishes and Moors, which a man no sooner treads upon, but he sticks in the Mud and Dirt.
1748. Anson’s Voy., III. vii. 354. At length the ship stuck fast in the mud.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xiii. Mrs. Mac-Candlish’s postilion … said aloud, ‘If he had stuck by the way, I would have lent him a heezie.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xxvii. 198. The carriage … had stuck in one of the ridges.
b. In fig. phrases to stick in the briers, clay, mire (now rare or obs.): to be involved in difficulties or trouble. To stick in the mud: now usually, to remain content in a mean or abject condition.
c. 1450. trans. De Imitatione, III. xxii. 90. Haue mercy on me oute of þe clay, þat I stike not þerin.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Hæreo, They beyng accused of extortion and pillage were in muche trouble, or stacke in the bryars.
c. 1620. A. Hume, Brit. Tongue, Ded. Quhiles I stack in this claye, it pleased God to bring your Majestie hame to visit your aun Ida.
1898. J. Arch, Life, xiv. 345. To teach a man to be content to stick in the mud is to teach a man to curse himself.
† c. To be involved in (some undesirable state or condition). Obs.
c. 1640. H. Bell, Luther’s Colloq. Mens. (1652), 309. And whoso blameth mee for giving way and yielding so much to the Pope at the first, let him consider in what darkness I still stuck at that time.
1666. Bunyan, Grace Abound., § 201. I should still be as sticking in the jaws of desperation.
12. To become fixed or stationary in or on account of some obstruction, to be arrested or intercepted. Of a thing made to run, swing or slide: To become unworkable, to jam.
1531. Sel. Pleas Crt. Admiralty (Selden Soc.), I. 58. It chaunced his nett to styck or fasten in the bend or knot of a cable.
1707. E. Smith, Phædra & Hippolitus, I. i. My Blood runs backward, and my fault’ring Tongue Sticks at the Sound.
1852. Seidel, Organ, 46. One of the keys in the pedal sticks, moving neither up nor down.
1855. Tennyson, Brook, 85. The gate, Half-parted from a weak and scolding hinge, Stuck.
1886. C. H. Fagge’s Princ. Med., I. 31. A strip of flannel had got between the drawer and its frame, and had made the drawer stick.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 352. If … an embolus sticks in the vertebral, the basilar artery may become gradually thrombosed and blocked.
fig. 1642. D. Rogers, Naaman, 24. Let us not wonder that our praiers sticke in their ascent.
b. Of food, etc.: To lodge (in the throat).
To stick in one’s gizzard, stomach (fig.): see the sbs.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet., 117 b. An other speakes in his throte, as though a good Ale crumme stacke fast.
1727. Dorrington, Philip Quarll (1816), 16. A phlegm sticking in my throat, I happened to hem pretty loud.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Passion & Princ., x. III. 195. ‘How’s your throat, child?’… ‘Oh, quite well, Pa,… it was a bit of the rind of the cheese that stuck.’
1895. ‘Percy Hemingway,’ Out of Egypt, I. ii. 12. He went into the tiny kitchen saw a plate of maccaroni for his supper. He tried to eat some, but it stuck in his throat.
c. Of words, To stick in one’s throat, † teeth: ‘to resist emission’ (J.).
1605. Shaks., Macb., II. ii. 33. Amen stuck in my throat.
1634. Hall, Contempl., N. T., IV. xxi. 219. How this suit sticks in her teeth; and dare not freely come forth.
1822. Scott, Nigel, xiv. ‘My lord,’—said Richie, and then stopped to cough and hem, as if what he had to say stuck somewhat in his throat.
d. Of a weather-glass, the wind: To remain without fluctuation or variation.
13. Of a matter: To be at a stand, to suffer delay or hindrance. Const. at, in, on, upon.
1530. Palsgr., 735/2. It stycketh, as a mater stycketh and gothe nat forward, il tient. The mater stycketh nat in me, la matiere ne tient pas a moy.
1537. Latimer, Let. Cromwell, in Serm. & Rem. (1845), 383. As touching your request concerning your friend,… it shall not stick on my behalf.
1619. Wotton, in Eng. & Germ. (Camden), 50. I finde … a good disposition there,… but I doubte it will sticke upon who shall beginne.
1676. Earl Anglesey, in Essex Papers (Camden), II. 84. Our King hath the French promises the generall peace shall not stick for want of the surrender [of Sicily].
1703. Barrett, Analecta, 39. May not this excite and encourage thee to set about the Work, to consider how the Lord is beforehand with thee, that the Work is not like to stick at him.
a. 1715. Burnet, Own Time, IV. (1724), I. 629. A rich widow … hearing at what his designs stuck,… furnished him with ten thousand pounds.
1893. Stevenson, Catriona, iii. ‘I believe I could indicate in two words where the thing sticks,’ said I.
b. Of a person or thing: To remain in a stationary condition, to be unable to make progress. Of a commodity etc.: Not to ‘go off,’ to remain unsold (cf. STICKER 3 b).
1641. Nicholas Papers (Camden), 46. We stick wher we were for officers, ye King uppon his declaration and ye Parlement uppon ther two propositions made to him.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. s.v., His mind sticks betwixt Hope and Fear.
1729. Swift, Poems, Soldier & Scholar, 3. This Hamilton’s Bawn, while it sticks on my Hand, I lose by the House, what I get by the Land.
1741. Warburton, Div. Legat., IV. v. II. 269. And there they [the contending parties] must have stuck, till Famine and Desertion had ended the Quarrel.
1872. Bagehot, Physics & Pol. (1876), 158. How then did any civilisation become unfixed? No doubt most civilisations stuck where they first were; no doubt we see now why stagnation is the rule of the world, and why progress is the very rare exception.
† c. Of a person or his thoughts: To rest in some intermediate or subsidiary object. Obs.
1534. Prymer, E, Teache vs deare father not to styck, steye, or ground our selues in our good workes, or deseruynges, but to gyue & submitte our selfe … to thyn infynyte … mercy.
1579. Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 55. Ye Iewes so sticked in the figure, that they considered not the thing signified.
a. 1628. Preston, New Covt. (1630), 386. The Jewes … could not see Christ himselfe, the inward promises, but stucke in the outward barke and rinde of Ceremonies.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., IV. viii. § 13. Where-ever the distinct Idea any Words stand for, is not known … there our Thoughts stick wholly in Sounds, and are able to attain no real Truth or Falshood.
14. To be in difficulty or trouble; to stop or stand in a state of perplexity; to be embarrassed, puzzled or nonplussed.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades, I. x. 94/1. It is requisite that we firste shewe who it is that is our neighbour, touching whiche I see some men to doubt and sticke vncertainely [L. addubitare & hœrere ancipites].
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., XV. iv. 36. Who having read the same, sticking and doubting a good while what this should meane … returneth the … missives.
1677. Locke, in P. King, Life (1830), II. 164. But when we begin to think of … the beginning of either, our understanding sticks and boggles, and knows not which way to turn.
1730. T. Boston, Mem., xii. 433. Sitting down to my studies on Friday, the Lord withdrew and I stuck.
1741. Watts, Improv. Mind, I. xvi. (1801), 126. If the chain of consequences be a little prolix, here they stick and are confounded.
b. To be unable to proceed in narration or speech, through lapse of memory or embarrassment.
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 74. He stuck fast continually in the midst of his verse, and could goe no farther.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., 258. If those … haue their notes lying open before them, to cast their eye vpon them here or there where they sticke.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk. (1859), 170. He always stuck in the middle, everybody recollecting the latter part excepting himself.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxxvii. He was only able to pronounce the words, ‘Saunders Souplejaw’—and then stuck fast.
15. To hesitate, scruple, be reluctant or unwilling. Const. to (do something). Only with negative. (Now rare.)
1532. G. Hervet, trans. Xenophon’s Tr. Householde, 61. For marchant men … wyll not stycke for daunger to passe any see what so euer it be.
1575. Gammer Gurton, V. ii. 165. Yea, but he that made one lie about your cock-stealing, Wil not sticke to make another.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. 25. Some will not sticke to sell you siluer gilt for gold.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., II. ii. 127. They will not sticke to say, you enuide him.
1648. J. Beaumont, Psyche, XX. xcvii. Though I be Queen, I stick not to submit.
1712. Addison, Spectator, No. 451, ¶ 6. I … have not stuck to rank them with the Murderer and Assassin.
1827. De Quincey, Murder, Wks. 1854, IV. 4. I do not stick to assert, that any man who deals in murder, must have very incorrect ways of thinking.
† b. To be grudging or stingy. Const. for. Obs.
1533. Pardoner & Friar, B iij. Fye on couetise, sticke nat for a peny.
1573. Baret, Alv., S. 761. They will sticke for no labour, neque parcetur labori.
1625. Massinger, New Way, I. i. Tapwell. True, but they … had a gift to pay for what they call’d for, And stucke not like your mastership.
16. Of a workman: To refuse to continue working, to strike. local.
1851. Greenwell, Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh., 52. Stick, to cease work, in order to obtain an increase, or prevent a reduction of wages, &c.
III. To fix, cause to adhere.
17. trans. To fasten (a thing) in position by thrusting in its point.
c. 1290. Wolston, 180, in S. Eng. Leg., 76. He wende forth … And nam þe croce wel mildeliche þare he stikede hire er so faste.
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., II. § 38. In centre of the compas stike an euene pyn or a whir vp-riht.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., XII. 356. Ther cannes styke; on hem sarmentis plie.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., II. vii. 56. Vnlesse you haue a cod-peece to stick pins on.
1617. Moryson, Itin., I. 186. Cloth … wherein I sticked needles.
1731. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Pisum 6 M 2/2. You should stick some rough Boughs, or brush Wood, into the Ground close to the Peas, for them to ramp upon.
1742. Leoni, Palladio’s Archit., I. 85. Having by Engines stuck these pieces in the bottom of the River.
a. 1756. Eliza Haywood, New Present (1771), 127. Then stick a skewer into it.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 374. Stick a nail in the wall in the centre.
1907. J. A. Hodges, Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6), 113. Stick the iron shoes [of a tripod] well into three good bungs.
fig. 1640. Fuller, Joseph’s Coat, etc. 95. The wicked … have onely a superficiall hold in grace, rather sticked than rooted in it.
b. To secure (a thing) by thrusting the end of it in, into, behind, through (a receptacle).
1664. Butler, Hud., II. i. 774. Quoth she, I grieve to see your Leg Stuck in a hole here like a Peg.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, ii. A habit of sticking his pen behind his ear before he spoke.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, II. xxii. A man … who had a small hatchet stuck in his belt.
1869. Trollope, He knew, etc. xxv. He was sitting, with a short, black pipe stuck into his mouth.
c. To fasten by transfixion to.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Sam. xviii. 11. And Saul had a iauelynge in his hande, and cast it, and thoughte: I wyll stycke Dauid fast to the wall.
d. To fix on a point.
c. 1320. Sir Beues, 828. And þe bor is heued of smot, And on a tronsoun of is spere Þat heued a stikede for to bere.
1577. Hanmer, Anc. Eccl. Hist., VIII. xxvi. 165. He commaunded … their right eyes to be stickt on the point of a bodkine, the apple, eye lidde and all, to be quite digged out.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. v. 273. In this Battel is Alpin takne;… heidet: stukne on a stake and borne to Camelodun his heid.
1670. Dryden, Tyr. Love, III. i. 28. It first shall pierce my heart: We will be stuck together on his dart.
1755. Johnson, To Stick,… 2 To fix upon a pointed body.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev. (ed. 2), 106. Their heads were stuck upon spears, and led the procession.
e. To set (an entomological specimen) by transfixing (it) with a pin.
1830. Darwin, Life & Lett., I. 182. I have not stuck an insect this term.
18. gen. To fasten in position; also in weaker sense, to place, set, put. Now chiefly, to place obtrusively, inappropriately or irregularly. Also with advs., down, on, etc.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 152. Byndez byhynde,… boþe two his handez…; Stik hym stifly in stokez. Ibid., B. 583. Byþenk þe sum-tyme, Wheþer be þat stykked vche a stare in vchc steppe yȝe, Ȝif [etc.].
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, I. xcviii. (1869), 53. Lady, quod j, seyth me … of these belles … why thei ben thus tacched and stiked in the skrippe.
1531. Tindale, Exp. 1 John (1537), 30. Lyghtes were stycked before theyr memorials.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov., I. xi. (1867), 35. As dyd the pure penitent that stale a goose And stack downe a fether.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, VI. xxix. 696. Some hold, that the branches or bowes of Rhamnus stickte at mens dores and windowes, do driue away Sorcerie.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., III. 199. A whitly wanton,… With two pitch bals stucke in her face for eyes.
1658. Bromhall, Treat. Specters, I. 70. As though she … were sticked in the bottom of a River to be drowned.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, Ded. (e) 4 b. The Additions, I also hope, are easily deduc’d from Virgil’s Sense. They will seem … not stuck into him, but growing out of him.
1819. Shelley, Œd. Tyr., I. i. 301. Sticking cauliflowers Between the ears of the old ones.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxviii. Trois-Eschelles stuck a torch against the wall to give them light.
1875. Helps, Soc. Press., i. 5. Now let him make grand that commonplace word by sticking that forcible article before it with a capital letter.
1909. A. N. Lyons, Sixpenny Pieces, ii. 19. When you’ve done your toilet do you mind just putting a match to the gas stove and sticking a kettle on?
b. To fasten as an adornment or garnishing. Also with advs., as about, on, up.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., I. 31. & styke þer-on Clowis, Maces, & Quybibis.
1591. A. W., Bk. Cookrye, 25 b. When you serue him [a pheasant] in, stick one of his fethers vpon his brest.
1648. Gage, West Ind., xii. 53. Many devout persons came and sticked in the dowy Image pretious stones.
1665. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 126. Hung it was … with threads tripartite … and some Cyprus-branches stuck about.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Eng. Housekpr. (1778), 291. Stick curled parsley in it.
1834. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Steam Excurs. Planting immense bright bows on every part of a smart cap on which it was possible to stick one.
1850. Lowell, Unhappy Mr. Knott, 56. [A house] With Lord-knows-whats of round and square Stuck on at random everywhere.
c. Joinery. To work (molding, a bead) with a plane fashioned for that purpose. Cf. STRIKE v.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), Rails, are narrow planks … upon which there is a moulding stuck.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 983. The sashes to be 1 inch and three-quarters, stuck (worked) with astragal and hollow.
1842. Gwilt, Archit., § 2105. Mouldings … are generally wrought by hand; but when a plane is formed for them they are said to be stuck, and the operation is called sticking. Ibid., § 2106. When a bead is stuck on the edge of a piece of stuff … the edge is said to be beaded…. The beads … are sometimes stuck double and triple.
1902. R. Sturgis, Dict. Archit. & Build., Stick, to run, strike, or shape with a moulding plane; by extension, to shape,… by the moulding mill.
19. To set (a surface) with, to furnish or adorn with on the surface, to cover or strew with. Also with advs., as about, over, full.
c. 1300. Seyn Julian (1872), 142. Al were þe velion [of the wheel] aboute; wiþ rasours istiked faste.
1597. Beard, Theatre God’s Judgem. (1612), 234. Who … put him into a great Pipe stickt full of long nayles, and then rolled him downe.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., II. iv. 56. My shrowd of white, stuck all with Ew, O prepare it.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 5. The Common Fly…. Her body is … stuck all over with great black Bristles.
1687. Dryden, Hind & Panther, III. 1047. With Garden-Gods, and barking Deities, More thick than Ptolomey has stuck the Skies.
1722. Diaper, trans. Oppian’s Halieut., I. 486. Sea-Urchins, who their native Armour boast, All stuck with Spikes, prefer the sandy Coast.
1780. Mirror, No. 106. Not a walk but is stuck full of statues.
1867. Lowell, FitzAdam’s Story, 48. As these bring home … Their hat-crowns stuck with bugs of curious make.
1890. Mrs. Kingscote, Tales of Sun, x. 125. She made a big ball of clay and stuck it over with what rice she had, so as to make it look like a ball of rice.
1893. Wiltshire Gloss., Stick, to decorate with evergreens, &c. ‘We allus sticks th’ Church at Christmas.’
b. Cookery. To set with a garnish.
1530. Palsgr., 735/2. Stycke your shoulder of mouton with herbes.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 654. Ber. A Lemmon. Lou. Stucke with Cloues.
1611. Beaum. & Fl., Knt. Burning Pestle, V. i. We will have … a good piece of beef, stuck with Rose-mary.
1673. Dryden, Amboyna, I. i. I would not let these English from this Isle have Cloves enough to stick an Orange with.
c. fig.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., V. ii. 8. Supposition, all our liues, shall be stucke full of eyes.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., Rev. & Conclus. 395. It is many times with a fraudulent Designe that men stick their corrupt Doctrine with the Cloves of other mens Wit.
20. To cause to adhere; to fasten, fix, secure (a thing) against, on, upon, to (a surface) by means of an adhesive, pins, etc. Also said of the adhesive. Also to stick down.
Stick no bills: the usual form of the notice placed on a building forbidding placards to be posted upon it. Cf. bill-sticker, -sticking.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 18382. For on her houses thei hadde stiked Certayn signes that wele were knowen.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 475/1. Stykyn, or festyn a thynge to a walle or a noþer þynge, wha so hyt be, figo, affigo, glutino.
1653. Walton, Compl. Angler, ii. 49. An honest Alehouse, where we shall find a cleanly room,… and twenty Ballads stuck about the wall.
1777. Cavallo, Electricity, 320. The innermost of these tubes has a spiral row of small round pieces of tin-foil, stuck upon its outside surface.
1807. Med. Jrnl., XVII. 356. It had bled a drop of blood, which coagulating, stuck his stocking to it.
1820. Shelley, Witch of Atlas, lxxiii. The priests would write an explanation full,… and bid the herald stick The same against the temple doors.
1851. Dickens, Bill-sticking, in Househ. Words, 22 March, 604/2. The company had a watchman on duty night and day, to prevent us sticking bills upon the hoarding.
1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Channings, xix. He put the bank-note in [the letter], wet the gum, and stuck it down.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 4. After sticking the preparation on the cover-glass or slide.
b. fig. To fasten (one’s choice, opinion, an imputation, a nickname, dishonor, etc.) on, upon.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, V. iii. 45. Admiringly my Liege, at first I stucke my choice vpon her.
1605. B. Jonson, Volpone, III. ii. These imputations are too common, Sir, And eas’ly stuck on vertue, when shee’s poore.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 330. His foul esteeme Sticks no dishonor on our Front, but turns Foul on himself.
1842. Lover, Handy Andy, i. The nickname the neighbours stuck upon him was Handy Andy.
† c. To post up (a notice or document). Obs.
1796. J. Gutch, Wood’s Hist. & Antiq. Univ. Oxf., II. 164. Thomas Greenway of that College [Corpus Christi] resigning his Presidentship, a Citation was stuck for the election of another to succeed him.
† d. (? Hence,) Of a sheriff: To return (a jury). (See RETURN v. 16 b. Cf. STRIKE v.) Obs. rare.
1688. T. Clarges, in Gutch, Coll. Cur., I. 359. It is sayd the Master of the Office will stick the Jury and will name eight and forty.
21. To bring to a stand, render unable to advance or retire. Chiefly in passive. colloq.
1829. Scott, Anne of G., xxxii. Every man of us was at home among the crags, and Charles’s men were stuck among them as thou wert.
1891. Morris, in Mackail, Life (1899), II. 265. Get Hooper to do the colophon before he goes off, as otherwise it might stick us.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 14 July, 12/1. The way is easy to miss, and the climber may easily find himself ‘stuck’ on the face of a precipice.
b. colloq. To pose, nonplus.
1884. Literary Era, II. 158. I knew it all from beginning to end; you could not stick me on the hardest of them.
1893. Stevenson, Catriona, vi. You must not suppose the Government … will ever be stuck for want of evidence.
22. Sc. To break down in (a speech, song, etc.); to fail to carry through (a business, etc.). Also, † to cause a breakdown of (a speech).
1715. Pennecuik, Tweeddale, etc. Poems 34. A comely Body and a Face, Would make a Dominie stick the Grace.
1726. Wodrow, Corr. (1843), III. 254. Wilson … said warmly that the Commission had betrayed the rights of the Christian people. This drew a cry upon him to call him to the bar, where he was once before…. This sticked his speech.
1782. Sir J. Sinclair, Observ. Scot. Dial., 25. To stick any thing; to spoil any thing in the execution.
1829. Hogg, Sheph. Cal., xxi. II. 315. I disdained to stick the tune, and therefore was obliged to carry on in spite of the obstreperous accompaniment.
23. slang and colloq. a. To cheat (a person) out of his money, to cheat or take in in dealing; to ‘saddle’ with something counterfeit or worthless in purchase or exchange. Cf. STRIKE v.
1699. E. S—cy, Country Gentl. Vade M., 56. And so they draw him on from one set to another and from little Bets to great Ones (till they have stuck him, as they call it).
1843. Blackw. Mag., LIII. 8. They think it ungentlemanly to cheat, or, as they call it, ‘stick’ any of their own set.
1848. Bartlett, Dict. Amer., 333. To take in; to impose upon; to cheat in trade. ‘I’m stuck with a counterfeit note;’ ‘He went to a horse sale, and got stuck with a spavined horse.’
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, II. 20/1. The pawnbrokers have been so often ‘stuck’ (taken in) with inferior instruments, that it is difficult to pledge even a really good violin.
1900. M. H. Hayes, Among Horse Russia, Introd. 19. Has he [a horse-dealer] ever stuck you with a wrong one?
b. To induce to incur an expense or loss; to ‘let in’ for.
1895. J. G. Millais, Breath fr. Veldt, i. 2. [He] publishes his work (at his own expense) and sticks his friends for a copy.
1915. ‘A. Hope,’ Young Man’s Yr., 272. I’m awfully sorry I stuck you for such a lot.
c. To stick it in or on: to make extortionate charges.
1844. Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xxvii. In short, my good fellow, we stick it into B., up hill and down dale, and make a devilish comfortable little property out of him.
1853. Dickens, etc. Househ. Words, Christm. No. 1/1. How they do stick it into parents—particularly hair-cutting, and medical attendance.
1857. ‘Ducange Anglicus,’ Vulgar Tongue, 20. Sticking it on, deceiving or defrauding.
d. To be stuck on (U.S. slang): to have one’s mind or fancy set on, to be captivated with.
1886. American, XIII. 14. The latter’s family so ridiculed him for having been ‘stuck’ on the canvas that he put it away.
1887. F. Francis, Jr. Saddle & Mocassin, 163. Turn ’em on to your range when the grass is green;… they get stuck on it then, and stop there.
IV. Intransitive uses with prepositions.
24. Stick at —.
a. To scruple at; to hesitate to accept or believe, to demur to, take exception to, be deterred by. (Chiefly used negatively.) To stick at nothing: to be unscrupulous. Cf. sense 15.
1525. Abp. Warham, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. III. I. 361. If they loved their Prince, they wold not sticke at this demaund.
1550. Bp. Day, Ibid., Ser. III. III. 303. I answered … that I stycked not att the alteration … of the matter (as stone or wode) wherof the Altar was made.
1615. Ralegh, Prerog. Parl. (1628), Ded. (end). It is loue which obeyes,… which giues, which stickes at nothing.
1691. Conset, Pract. Spir. Crts. (1700), To Rdr. Such time serving Wretches, as stick at no Extortion or Oppression.
1737. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 486. I shall Never Stick at any expence tho’ it puts me into a thousand difficulties.
1741. Richardson, Pamela, III. 328. Who, she had too much reason to think, would stick at nothing to gain his Ends.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), II. viii. 174. He stuck at no injustice which was needed to carry out his purpose.
1884. Flor. Marryat, Under the Lilies, xxvii. Such women … who do not stick at telling a falsehood, will not hesitate to listen at a door.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, xxii. A d—d scoundrel, who would stick at nothing in the way of villainy.
b. To be impeded or brought to a stand at (a difficulty). Cf. sense 14.
1620. Middleton, Chaste Maid, IV. i. He was eight yeeres in his Grammer, and stucke horribly at a foolish place there call’d Asse in presenti.
1688. Bunyan, Heavenly Footman (1811), 6. They who will have heaven must not stick at any difficulties they meet with, but press, crowd, and thrust through all that may stand between heaven and their souls.
c. 1698. Locke, Cond. Underst., § 6, Wks. 1714, III. 397. Sometimes they [sc. young scholars] will stick a long time at a part of a Demonstration … for want of perceiving the Connection of two Ideas.
1773. Monboddo, Lang. (1774), I. Pref. 9. This ingenious author … had not prosecuted it far, having stuck at this difficulty.
25. Stick by —.
a. To remain resolutely faithful to (a person) as a follower, partisan or supporter.
1526. Tindale, Luke xix. 48. The hye prestes and the scrybes … coulde nott fynde what to do for all the people stocke by hym And gave him audience.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., V. iii. 70. Shal. I thanke thee: the knaue will sticke by thee.
1716. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 157. To stick to the last extremity by them who were so unanimously engaged in my cause.
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, III. x. But Swift … had this merit of a faithful partisan, that he … stuck by Harley bravely in his fall.
† b. Of a thing: To remain with, cling to (a person); to remain in (a person’s) memory. Obs.
1533. More, Apol., xxxvi. 196. Wythout any greate hurte that afterwarde sholde stycke by them.
1628. Prynne, Love-Lockes, 52. This Beautie will sticke by vs, and continue with vs for all eternitie.
1678. Bunyan, Pilgr., I. 54. The remembrance of which will stick by me as long as I live.
1708. Pope, Let. H. C., 18 March, Lett. (1735), 77. At present I am satisfy’d to trifle away my Time any Way, rather than let it stick by me; as Shop-keepers are glad to be rid of those Goods [etc.].
1770. C. Jenner, Placid Man, I. I. vii. 42. Norris had met with some disappointment which stuck by him.
c. To keep resolutely to, hold to, be constant to (a principle, one’s word). Now rare.
1646. R. Baillie, Lett. & Jrnls. (1841), II. 371. We shall be honest, and sticke by our Covenant…. Hitherto we have stucke by our principles in many great and long tentations.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. IV. iv. He sticks by the Washington-formula; and by that he will stick.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xx. He knew what a savage, determined man Osborne was, and how he stuck by his word.
1869. Tennyson, North. Farmer, New Style, xv. Thim’s my noätions, Sammy, wheerby I means to stick.
† d. To keep persistently to, continue at (some business or operation). Obs.
1556. Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia (Arb.), 139. And therfore if the other part sticke so harde by it, that the battel come to their handes, it is fought with great slaughter and blodshed.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., i. On Friday, he stuck by the salt beef and carrot, though there were … good spitchcock’d eels. Ibid. (1829), Anne of G., xiii. Have the peasant-clods … stuck by the flask till cock-crow?
26. Stick to —. (Also † unto —.)
† a. To cling to for support. Obs.
1534. Goodly Prymer, N v b. They that stycke to the lord [Vulg. qui confidunt in Domino] shal neuer stacker.
1538. Bale, God’s Promises, A iv. Pater cœlestis [to Adam]. Than wyll I tell the, what thu shalt stycke vnto, Lyfe to recouer.
1586–7. Q. Eliz., in Scoones, Four C. Eng. Lett. (1880), 31. My stable amitie; from wiche, my deare brother, let no sinistar whisperars … persuade to leave your surest, and stike to unstable staies.
b. To remain resolutely faithful or attached to (a person or party), not to desert. Now chiefly colloq.
1535. Coverdale, Prov. xviii. 24. A frende … doth a man more frendship, and sticketh faster vnto him then a brother.
1536. Act 28 Hen. VIII., c. 7 § 9. And holly to styck to them, as true and faithfull subjectes ought to doo to their regall rulers.
1563. Gresham, in Burgon, Life (1839), II. 34. Praying you now (as my trust ys in God and you,) that you will stycke unto me.
1691. Wood, Ath. Oxon., II. 680. When the Kings Cause declined he stuck close to the said family.
a. 1715. Burnet, Own Time, II. (1724), I. 200. He promised to all the Earl of Midletouns friends that he would stick firm to him.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. iv. 209. Under Rolf, Normandy had stuck faithfully to the King.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ Valerie’s Fate, vi. But I should have stuck to him through thick and thin.
† c. To give one’s adhesion to (a doctrine, cause, etc.). Obs.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. John xi. 45–8. When they had seene so notable a miracle, they beleued yt Jesus was Messias, and stacke to his doctrine.
1644. Milton, Divorce, I. (ed. 2), 4. Many points … likely to remain intricate and hopelesse upon the suppositions commonly stuck to.
1665. Glanvill, Def. Van. Dogm., To Albius (a 3). The way to bring men to stick to nothing, being confidently to perswade them, to swallow all things.
d. To adhere, keep or hold to (an argument, demand, resolve, opinion, bargain, covenant, and the like); to refuse to renounce or abandon; to persist in.
1525. Sampson, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. III. II. 26. Th’ Emperor havyng his enemy in his hande made the best argument that could be, and to suche argument must he styk if he entende to get any thing.
1655. trans. Sorel’s Com. Hist. Francion, III. 67. Being a man that stuck to his resolves.
a. 1688. Bunyan, Israel’s Hope Encour., Wks. (1692), 220/2. The Word Redemption, therefore must be well understood, and close stuck to.
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull, IV. vi. Let us stick to our point, and we will manage Bull, I’ll warrant ye!
1822. Hazlitt, Men & Manners, Ser. II. vi. (1869), 135. I like a person who knows his own mind and sticks to it.
1887. Lang, Myth, Ritual & Relig., I. vi. 179. The old men do not know…. But they stick to it that ‘that bed of reeds still exists.’
1887. E. A. Freeman, in Life and Lett. (1895), II. 368. I stick tight to Gladstone’s best proposal, to clear the Irishry out of Westminster.
e. To refuse to be enticed, led or turned from; to attend unremittingly to (an occupation, course of action, work, etc.).
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VII., 10. The Iryshemen, although they foughte hardely and stucke to it valyauntly, yet … they were stryken downe and slayne.
1552. Latimer, Serm. Septuagesima (1584), 327 b. And therefore let vs sticke hard vnto it, and bee content to forgoe all the pleasures and riches of this world for his sake.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., IV. ii. 10. Sticke to your Iournall course: the breach of Custome, Is breach of all.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., 11. They being nuzled vp in play abroad, are very hardly reclaimed and weaned from it, to sticke to their bookes indeede.
1662. H. Newcome, Diary (Chetham Soc.), 112. Fell to my studdy on Ecles. xii. 1, and stucke to it allmost all day.
1720. Mrs. Manley, Power of Love (1741), IV. 279. She was obliged to stick close to her needle, and not stir out of her Chamber.
1821. J. W. Croker, in C. Papers, 5 June (1884). He … would advise him to stick to his law.
1874. Blackie, Self-Cult., 76. I never knew a man good for anything in the world, who, when he got a piece of work to do, did not know how to stick to it.
1877. ‘H. A. Page,’ De Quincey, II. xvi. 7. His incapacity to stick to work was increased by his nervous dread of putting others to inconvenience.
f. To keep exclusively to (a subject of discourse or study, an employment, etc.). Phr. To stick to one’s text.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 66, ¶ 5. The Boy I shall consider upon some other Occasion, and at present stick to the Girl.
1795. Burke, Let. Hussey, Corr. (1844), IV. 317. Lord Fitzwilliam sticks nobly to his text, and neither abandons his cause or his friends.
1880. Sala, in Illustr. Lond. News, 4 Dec., 539. Still I stick to my text as regards champagne and raki imbibing among the upper classes in Turkey.
g. To keep exclusively to the use of (a particular article, kind of food or the like).
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxi. I must stick to the flageolet, for music is the only one of the fine arts which deigns to acknowledge me.
1879. F. W. Robinson, Coward Consc., I. viii. Thank-you, I’ll stick to the claret.
1907. J. A. Hodges, Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6), 125. The beginner should select one particular make, and stick to it.
h. To remain by or in (a place, etc.); to refuse to desert or leave.
To stick to one’s colors: see COLOUR sb. 7 d. To stick to one’s guns: see GUN sb. 6 b.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., XXIV. vii. 249. The Persians sticking close to their walls,… assayed to checke … our deadly violence.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 103. The rains came on, and made me stick close to my first Habitation.
1853. Reade, Love me Little, I. viii. 231. While she [a boat] floats they stick to her.
1898. F. D. How, Bp. Walsham How, xxii. 313. He felt that this was an additional reason for sticking to his post.
i. To follow closely (an original, etc.).
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Mark ii. 6–12. The vulgar people … who whyles they stacke harde to the litterall sence of Moses lawe, were farre from the spirite and true mening thereof.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., 157. The sense & drift of the Latine Author is principally to be obserued, and not the phrase nor propriety of the tongue, to bee so much sought to bee expressed or stucken vnto.
1697. Vanbrugh, Æsop, Pref. For I confess in the Translation, I have not at all stuck to the Original.
j. To keep close to (in a pursuit or race). lit. and fig.
1863. W. C. Baldwin, Afr. Hunting, ii. 56. I … singled out the largest bull. Crafty and Billy stuck to him like leeches.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., XVIII. v. (1872), VII. 189. Our hussars stuck to him, chasing him into Ostritz.
1879. H. C. Powell, Amateur Athletic Ann., 19. Crossley had all his work cut out to win, as A. S. Smith … stuck closely to him all the way.
k. To keep possession of, refuse to part with.
a. 1660. Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.), II. 162. Major Charles … did call for Colonell Moore, bidinge him to leade that horse as proper colonell, which he did and left, Dungan stikinge onely to one or two troupes.
1704. Cibber, Careless Husb., III. i. 22. Sir Cha. If you keep your Temper she’s Undone. L. Mo. Provided she sticks to her Pride, I believe I may.
1867. Trollope, Chron. Barset, xxxvii. She’ll stick to every shilling of it till she dies.
1884. Chr. World, 12 June, 442/5. A bishop of Antioch, deposed and excommunicated, chose to stick to the church-buildings.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., I. xx. 283. Congress … may request the President to dismiss him, but if his master stands by him and he sticks to his place, nothing more can be done.
27. Stick with —.
† a. To side persistently with. Obs.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss. (1812), I. clxxxv. 219. And ther be … promysed the duke to stycke with hym in good and yuell.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 281. Because thei had taken parte and sticked hard with the enemies of Sylla [L. quod hostium partibus adhæsissent].
† b. To persist in arguing with, haggle with. Obs.
1530. Tindale, Answ. More’s Dial., IV. xi. Wks. (1572), 332/2. He saith, ‘it is euident … that a man … may geue … his body to burne for the name of Christ, & al without charitie.’ Wel I will not sticke with hym: he may so do [etc.].
1626. B. Jonson, Staple of N., III. ii. P. Iv. For that I’ll beare the charge: There’s two Pieces. Fit. Come, do not stick with the gentleman.
1651. Baxter, Inf. Bapt., 179. I will not stick with you for the phrase of Speech, when the thing is the same.
† c. To be incredible or unacceptable to. Obs.
1643. Prynne, Sov. Power Parl., III. 140. Because this objection stickes most with many Schollars,… I shall endeavour to give a satisfactory answer to it.
1719. Waterland, Vind. Christ’s Div., 216. The principal Thing which stuck with Him [sc. Arius], was … the strict Eternity or Co-eternity of the Son.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., Concl. Lady Margaret was prevailed on to countenance Morton, although the old Covenanter, his father, stuck sorely with her for some time.
† d. To remain painfully in the memory of. Obs.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 997. The Going away of that, which had staid so long, doth yet sticke with mee.
1666. Bunyan, Grace Abound., § 148. And this [fear of eternal damnation] stuck always with me.
V. Idiomatic uses with adverbs.
Many of the intrans. uses below serve as more colloquial variants of the corresponding phrases of stand, sometimes with added notion of persistence, obtrusiveness, or the like.
† 28. Stick away. trans. To hide away. Obs.
1575. Gammer Gurton, I. iv. 4. For these and ill luck togather … Haue stacke away my deare neele, and robd me of my ioye.
29. Stick down. (See simple senses and DOWN adv.) † trans. To fasten by its point; to plant (a spear, stake, etc.) by driving (its point) into the ground.
1581. A. Hall, Iliad, VI. 111. His iaueline right he sticketh down with words ful curteously, And friendly cheere he thus begins.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., Stat. William c. 27. 7. Bot that battell may be swa remitted: that is, quhen they haue sticken downe their speres; the defender may grant the fault.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., Let. Marlborough, 80. If … the Lord Mayor appoint his Water-Bailiff … to see a Stake stuck down, beyond which the Repairers of the Wharf shall not proceed.
30. Stick in.
a. trans. To insert; Sc. to plant (a tree).
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., viii. Jock, when ye hae naething else to do, ye may be aye sticking in a tree.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 341. In order to point out the stools or stocks … the stem of every tree may be stuck in within an inch or two of its root-stock.
b. intr. To remain obstinately in (an office, a community); to refuse to leave, go out, or resign.
1848. J. H. Newman, Loss & Gain, III. iv. 321. If they were [honest], then, as the Puseyites are becoming Catholics, so we should see old Brownside and his clique becoming Unitarians. But they mean to stick in.
1894. Labouchere, in Daily News, 21 April, 5/6. I have had … a sufficient experience of governments to know how they stick in.
c. Sc. To persevere.
1887. Annie S. Swan, Gates of Eden, iv. Yer wark’s honest … an’ if ye stick in, ye’re bound to dae weel.
1895. W. C. Fraser, Whaups of Durley, vi. 73. Stick in wi’ your lessons.
31. Stick off. intr. and trans. † To show to advantage. Obs.
1602. Shaks., Ham., V. ii. 168. Ile be your foile Laertes, in mine ignorance, Your Skill shall like a Starre i’ th’ darkest night, Sticke fiery off indeede.
1614. Chapman, Masque Inns of Court, A 3. The humble variety whereof [sc. of the torch-bearers’ habits], stucke off the more amplie, the Maskers high beauties.
32. Stick out.
a. intr. To jut out, project, protrude.
1567. Golding, Ovid’s Met., III. 83. The Iaueling steale that sticked out.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., III. x. 86. Nose, eares, or any other part of the bodie sticking out.
1679. Shadwell, True Widow, I. i. 4. He changed his Taylor twice, because his Shoulder-Bone sticks out.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 230. In which wire is a pointed short pin, sticking out horizontally.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, s.v. Spines, Long straight points that stick out from the edge of the Cordonnet.
1886. J. K. Jerome, Idle Thoughts, 5. What did it matter to him if his toes did stick out of his boots?
b. To be prominent or conspicuous. Now esp. U.S. slang.
1638. Junius, Paint. Ancients, 15. Though we cannot mount up to the highest top of perfection, yet it is something for all that to sticke out above the rest in the second and third place.
1902. Daily Chron., 9 Dec., 3/3. ‘Of her’ is all very well now and then, but when it occurs too often it ‘sticks out,’ as Mr. Henry James would say.
c. To persist in resistance; to hold out; also, to remain out on strike. Also, to stick it out, to endure something to the end (cf. 7 c). colloq.
1682. Lond. Gaz., No. 1741/3. When the design … is made publick, several others will contribute, and none … who wish well to the Town will stick out.
1818. Todd, To stick out, to refuse compliance.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil, VI. viii. As long as you can give us money, I don’t care … how long we stick out.
1886. Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll, i. He would have clearly liked to stick out; but … at last be struck.
1901. ‘Lucas Malet,’ Sir Richard Calmady, VI. vii. It would be ridiculous to fly, so she must stick it out.
d. To be a stickler for. rare. (Cf. stick up, 34 b.)
1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Channings, xlix. Nobody sticks out for politeness more than Carrick.
e. To maintain, persist in asserting (that). To stick one out: to maintain against one; to persist in an opinion in spite of all one’s argument. colloq.
1904. R. Hichens, Woman with Fan, iii. Do you stick out that Carey didn’t love you?
f. To persist in one’s demand for. colloq.
1902. A. Bennett, in Cornhill Mag., July, 55. Th’ old leech was only sticking out for every brass farthing he could get.
1906. Westm. Gaz., 28 Dec., 2/1. It is to be hoped that when the new boundary is determined we shall ‘stick out’ (if the expression be permitted) for the whole of Ruwenzori.
g. trans. Naut. (See quot. 1815.)
1815. Falconer’s Dict. Marine (ed. Burney), Stick out the Cable! the order to slacken and push it out at the hawse-hole, when the anchor is hauling up to the cat-head, &c.
1833. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, xii. Stick out the warp, let her swing to her anchor.
h. In passive, to be adorned too lavishly, ‘tricked out’ (with jewels).
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, VI. 53. They were richly dressed, and stuck out with jewels.
33. stick together. intr.
a. Of things: To adhere one to another, to cleave or cling together.
1583. Melbancke, Philotimus, Cc iv b. Good counsell and affection agre like iron and clay, which by no meanes can be brought to sticke together.
1677. Miége, Dict. Eng. Fr., s.v., To stick together like burs. Ibid. (1687), II. s.v., Atoms that stick together, and are as it were a continued Body.
a. 1732. Gay, Songs & Ball., New Song, xviii. Let us like burs together stick.
b. Of persons, etc.: To keep together; chiefly fig., to make common cause.
1560. Pilkington, Expos. Aggeus, E ij. To teach vs … that they should loue & sticke together like brethren.
1595. Shaks., John, III. iv. 67. Like true, inseparable, faithfull loues, Sticking together in calamitie.
1619. Drayton, Ballad Agincourt, 80. None from his fellow starts, But … like true English hearts, Stuck close together.
1680. Sir J. Scot, in Reg. Privy Council Scot., Ser. III. VI. 576. Let us … sticke togither and positively refuse and … it shall not carry.
1724. Swift, Drapier’s Lett., vii. Wks. 1755, V. II. 146. Nature hath instructed even a brood of goslings to stick together, while the kite is hovering over their heads.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. iii. 46. While we live we will stick together: one fate shall belong to us all.
1883. Stevenson, Treas. Isl., vi. Jim and I shall stick together in the meanwhile.
34. Stick up.
a. intr. To stand out from a surface; to project. † Of the hair: To stand on end.
1422. Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., 230. Who-so hath the browes stikkynge vp anent the noose into the templis in euery syde, bene foolis:… tho wyche bene a-dred haue hare lokkis stickynge vp.
1611. Middleton & Dekker, Roaring Girl, IV. ii. Goshawke goes in a shag-ruffe band, with a face sticking vp in’t, which showes like an agget set in a crampe ring.
1805. Stower, Typogr. Marks, 7. Where a space sticks up between two words, it is noticed by a perpendicular line in the margin.
1902. Violet Jacob, Sheep-Stealers, xi. The toll-gate … had not yet been re-erected, and the bare posts stuck dismally up at the wayside.
b. To stick up for: to defend the cause of, to champion. colloq. (Cf. stand up for STAND v. 103 o.)
1837. Lowell, Lett. (1894), I. 20. I shall always like him [Whittier] the better for ‘sticking up’ for old New England.
1887. Poor Nellie (1888), 115. The ‘Times’ always does stick up for the moral of everything.
c. dial. To make love to.
c. 1850. ‘Dow Jr.,’ in Jerdan, Yankee Hum. (1853), 85. I will … stick up to them, so long as there is anything sticky in the first principles of love.
1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, II. xvi. It soon became known to the ladies … that the captain ‘was sticking up to “Miss.”’
1899. Caroline Gearey, Rural Life, x. 237. I doan’t like ter see … a boy of sixteen sticking up to a gal.
d. To offer resistance to. colloq.
1843. Cracks abt. Kirk, I. 2 (E.D.D.). I am but a plain weaver, and no fit to argue wi’ the Dominie, tho’ I carena about stickin’ up tae Will.
1889. Contemp. Rev., Feb., 173. No 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.
e. To hold one’s ground in argument. colloq.
1858. Darwin, Life & Lett. (1887), II. 110. I admired the way you stuck up about deduction and induction.
f. To claim or give oneself out to be. Cf. set up (SET v. 154 nn). colloq.
1881. Blackmore, Christowell, xxxiv. I never knew any good come of those fellows who stick up to be everything wonderful.
† g. trans. To tuck up. Obs.
c. 1330. Amis. & Amil., 988. He stiked vp his lappes tho; In his way he gan to go.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 475/1. Stykkyn, or tukkyn vp cloþys, suffarcino, succingo. Ibid., 504/2. Tukkyn vp, or stykkyn vp, suffarcino.
h. To set up in position, to set up (a stake, etc.) on its own point, or (a head, body) by impalement.
1530. Tindale, Answ. More’s Dial., II. ix. Wks. (1572), 298/2. The Israelites … neither prayed to hym … nor sticked vppe candels before hym.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Chron. x. 10. His weapens layed they in the house of their god, and styckte vp his heade vpon the house of Dagon.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., I. iii. 87. The skilfull shepheard pil’d me certaine wands,… And stucke them vp before the fulsome Ewes.
1608. Dod & Cleaver, Expos. Prov. ix.–x. 78. His heart is not as … a stake that is sticked up, which euery hand may plucke awry.
1657. Billingsly, Brachy-Martyrol., i. 3. With his keen javelin, spirit-haunted Saul Assay’d to stick up David ’gainst the wall.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., VII. xiii. 21. Stick up in the Vertical Line two Pins of equal height.
1772. Foote, Nabob, II. [You] only wanted a wife to … stick up in your room, like any other fine piece of furniture?
1850. Lowell, Unhappy Mr. Knott, 28. ‘The woodland I’ve attended to’; (He meant three pines stuck up askew).
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 219. As most photographers never do anything but ‘stick it up’ and ‘fire away.’
fig. 1766. Goldsm., Vicar, xxvii. We should then find that wretches, now stuck up for long tortures, lest luxury should feel a momentary pang, might … serve to sinew the state.
i. To affix or post (a sheet, bill, or the like).
1788. Franklin, Autobiog., Wks. 1840, I. 122. It was reprinted on a large sheet of paper, to be stuck up in houses.
1821. Act 12 Geo. IV., c. 44 § 65. The Company … shall … affix and stick up … upon every Stop-gate … an Account or List of the several Rates of Tonnage.
1866. Geo. Eliot, Felix Holt, xxviii. You should be on the look-out when Debarry’s side have stuck up fresh bills, and go and paste yours over them.
j. colloq. To place (a charge) in a tavern-score; gen. to put down to one’s debit in an account.
1865. Chamb. Jrnl., 11 Feb., 82/1. The means to get drunk, too, were obtained by all manner of contrivances. Some would ‘stick it up’ till Saturday night.
1874. Slang Dict., 310. ‘Stick it up to me,’ i.e., give me credit for it.
k. Austral. To stop and rob on the highway; also, simply, to rob (a station, bank, etc.). Also transf. to demand alms from (a person). Cf. hold up HOLD v. 44 e.
1846. J. L. Stokes, Discov. in Australia, II. xiii. 502. It was only the previous night that he had been ‘stuck up,’ with a pistol at his head.
1881. A. C. Grant, Bush-Life Queensland, xi. (1882), 116. [The blacks] stuck up Wilson’s station there, and murdered the man and woman in the kitchen.
l. Austral. To hinder from proceeding (on a journey, in work or in any proceeding); hence to puzzle, nonplus.
1863. S. Butler, First Yr. Canterb. Settlement, v. 68. At last we came to a waterfall…. This ‘stuck us up,’ as they say here concerning any difficulty.
1887. J. W. Horsley, Jottings from Jail, 11. Now don’t stick me up (disappoint); meet me at six to-night.
1890. Melbourne Argus, 7 June, 4/2. We are stuck up for an hour or more, and can get a good feed over there.
1897. Australasian, 2 Jan., 33/1 (Morris). The professor seems to have stuck up any number of candidates with the demand that they should construct [etc.].
1915. ‘A. Hope,’ Young Man’s Yr., 299. We were absolutely stuck up for the rest of the money—couldn’t go on without it, and didn’t know where to get it.
m. Austral. To bring (an animal) to bay.
1884. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Old Melbourne Mem., iii. (1896), 24. We heard Violet’s bark…. We knew then that she had ‘stuck up’ or brought to bay a large forester [kangaroo].
1888. D. Macdonald, Gum Boughs, 15. The fiercest fighter [kangaroo] I ever saw ‘stuck up’ against a red gum tree.
VI. 35. The verb-stem in combination: stick-all, a cement for mending all kinds of articles; stick-culture, a bacterial culture made by thrusting a platinum needle into the culture-medium (Cent. Dict., 1891); † stickdirt, a term of abuse; stick-fast sb. † (a) = SIT-FAST sb. 1 (obs.); (b) an act of sticking in the mud, mire, etc.; (c) one who or something that becomes grounded; adj. that causes travellers to become mired; stick-jaw colloq., a pudding or sweetmeat difficult of mastication; also attrib.; stick-knife, a butcher’s sticking knife; also dial. a large pocket knife; stickseed, a plant of the genus Echinospermum, the seeds of which are furnished with hooked adhesive prickles; sticktight, a composite weed, Bidens frondosa, whose flat achenia bear two barbed awns; also one of the seeds (Cent. Dict.); stickweed U.S., the Ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiæfolia (Britton & Brown, Illustr. Flora North. U.S., 1898).
1880. Spon’s Encycl. Industr. Arts, etc. II. 628. *‘Stick-all’ … is a solution of silicate of potash…. It will securely unite fragments of stone, marble, wood, &c.
a. 1585. Montgomerie, Flyting w. Polwart, 117. False strydand *stickdirt, I’s gar thee stincke.
1610. Markham, Masterp., II. xliii. 285. Of the *Stickfast, Hornes, or hard bones growing vnder the saddle.
1863. W. C. Baldwin, Afr. Hunting, iv. 110. After … a couple of stick-fasts, got on to the missionaries.
1887. C. H. Richards, in Gladden, Parish Probl., 312. But when the tide rises,… these stick-fasts and waverers are easily brought into the harbor.
1819. Sporting Mag., V. 93. And dash and plunge through Belvoir’s *stick-fast vale.
1829. Caroline A. Southey, Chapters on Churchyards, II. 23. Their Saturdays commons of scrap-pie and *stick-jaw.
1894. Sat. Rev., 3 March, 234. There are plums to be found even in the most stickjaw pudding.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xxiv. 302. An old razor, not so decent-looking nor so sharp as a tolerably good *stick knife.
1869. Lonsdale Gloss., Stick-knife, a large pocket-knife.
1847. Darlington, Amer. Weeds, 244. Echinospermum, Swartz. *Stickseed.
1884. W. Miller, Plant-n., 11. Beggar Ticks, or *Stick-tight, Bidens frondosa.
1800. Weems, Life Washington, i. (1877), 6. He will drop his false foliage and fruit and stand forth confessed in native *stickweed sterility and worthlessness.
b. in phraseol. comb., as stick-at-nothing a., that will hesitate or stop at nothing in order to accomplish his purpose. Also STICK-IN-THE-MUD.
1805. Lamb, Let. Hazlitt, 10 Nov. The stick-at-nothing, Herodias’-daughter kind of grace.
1841. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, xxxix. Here’s a new brother,… a credit to the cause; one of the stick-at-nothing sort.
c. 1915. J. Conrad, Victory, 118. A false, lying, swindling, underhand, stick-at-nothing brute.
