Pa. t. and pa. pple. sticked; often erron. stuck. [f. STICK sb.1]
1. trans. To lay sticks between (pieces of timber) in stacking (it). ? local.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 42. Now sawe out thy timber,… Bestowe it and stick it, and lay it aright.
1714. [see STICKED ppl. a.2].
1877. in Dict. Archit. (Arch. Publ. Soc.), s.v. Stick, Deals sticked under sheds to season, with a stick between each board. Ibid., s.v. Stacking, Deals … have to be placed in a yard with due regard to the means of drying…; the top end resting against a rack (called sticking), the other end on the ground.
2. To furnish (a plant) with a stick as a support.
1636. Min. Archdeaconry of Essex 1635–8 (MS.), fol. 53 b. For cuttinge bowes of a tree to sticke pease.
1766. Complete Farmer, s.v. Pease, The chief trouble after sowing them is, to stick the larger sorts which require support.
1816. F. Vanderstraeten, Improv. Agric., 185, note. Growing twice as high as the ordinary flax, it must be sticked or supported.
1887. G. M. Fenn, This Man’s Wife, I. i. Going to stick those peas, are you?
3. To furnish (an artificial leaf or flower) with a stem or stalk.
1896. Daily News, 9 June, 9/6. Then they [artificial leaves] are carried off to be ‘sticked’ and papered.
4. To set up (type) in a composing stick.
1842. Implied in type-sticker: see TYPE sb.1 10.
1882. in Ogilvie.
5. intr. To pick up sticks for firewood.
Only in phr. to go sticking.
1870. Brand’s Pop. Antiq., I. 126. In parts of Huntingdonshire, the poor people go ‘sticking,’ or gathering sticks for fuel in Warboy’s Wood on May Day.
1891. Rutland Gloss., s.v., I’ve been sticking all the morning.
6. Croquet. To hit the post or peg.
1897. Encycl. Sport, I. 254/1. (Croquet) Post,… Also called Peg and Stick, the last two being sometimes used as verbs, for hitting the post.
