[f. STICK sb.1 + -Y.]
1. Of plant-stems: Like a stick; woody.
1577. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. 35. The best kinde hath a stickie stalke [orig. caule lignoso].
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 583. But Herbs draw a Weake Iuyce; and have a Soft Stalke; And therefore those amongst them which last longest, are Herbs of Strong Smell, and with a Sticky Stalke.
1677. W. Hubbard, Narrative, 81. The Ground-nuts running up to seed in the summer, began to grow so sticky, as they were scarce eatable.
1765. Museum Rust., III. 186. If he leaves it [vetch] till the seeds are nearly ripe, the stalks harden, grow sticky, and are of far less value.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 570. The stem or blade becomes firm and sticky.
1882. Garden, 4 March, 141/2. The Mezereon … is so often starved, and sticky and poor.
2. Painting. Characterized by hardness of outline.
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, x. 109. Fig. 66 … was … treated in a more dry, stiff, and what the painters call ‘sticky’ manner than the nature of flesh is ever capable of appearing in.
3. colloq. Of a person: Like a ‘stick’; wanting in animation or grace; awkward.
1881. Mrs. Lynn Linton, My Love, I. xii. 220. A girl looks such a stick when she does not talk like the rest; and I hate sticky girls.
