[f. STUMP v.1]
1. A heavy step or gait, as of a lame or wooden-legged person.
1770. Foote, Lame Lover, I. Wks. 1799, II. 60. I hear his stump on the stairs.
1830. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. IV. 129. The old Brigade-Major,… lame of a leg,… was kept on the constant stump with explanatory messages.
b. Reiterated, with echoic intention. Also quasi-adv., (to go, come) stump, stump.
1690. Pagan Prince, xii. 35. For a Prince to go Stump, Stump with a wooden Leg, is no way Majestical.
1854. Surtees, Handley Cr., xxvii. (1901), I. 204. Stump, stump, stump, creak, creak, creak, came old heavy-heels along the passage.
1862. Borrow, Wild Wales, xi. (1901), 63. She heard of a sudden a horse coming stump, stump, up to the door.
1890. D. Davidson, Mem. Long Life, x. 261. I heard the stump, stump of a wooden leg behind me.
2. U.S. colloq. ‘A dare, or challenge to do something difficult or dangerous’ (W., 1911).
1871. Mrs. Whitney, Real Folks, ii. 23. She understood life. It was ‘stumps’ all through…. It was a stump when her father died, and her mother had to manage the farm…. The mortgage they had to work off was a stump…. It was a stump when her mother died and the farm was sold.
1894. Advance (Chicago), 18 Oct., 112/3. But me lad, the bravest thing ye did was to refuse to run the risk fer a mere stump!
1899. Electr. Rev. (Amer.) XIV. 20 April, 4/4 (Cent.). The reason for this little freak was a ‘stump’ on the part of some musicians because George contended that Chicago should have its own orchestra, and it was not supposed he could handle a baton. He did it.
