WORDLE ENGLISH

stick

5 letters·English

stick—A small, thin branch from a tree or bush; a twig; a branch.

/stɪk/

Origin

From Middle English stikke (“stick, rod, twig”), from Old English sticca (“rod, twig”), from Proto-West Germanic *stikkō, from Proto-Germanic *stikkô, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Stikke (“stick”), West Flemish stik (“stick”), German Low German Stick (“stick”). Related to stigma.

noun

countable, uncountableA small, thin branch from a tree or bush; a twig; a branch.
“The beaver's dam was made out of sticks.”
“Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and eff”
countable, uncountableA relatively long, thin piece of wood, of any size.
“I found several good sticks in the brush heap.”
“What do you call a boomerang that won't come back? A stick.”
“It is a fine stick, about 70 feet long.”
US, countable, uncountableA timber board, especially a two by four (inches).
“I found enough sticks in dumpsters at construction sites to build my shed.”
countable, uncountableA cane or walking stick (usually wooden, metal or plastic) to aid in walking.
“I don’t need my stick to walk, but it’s helpful.”
“The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.”
countable, uncountableA cudgel or truncheon (usually of wood, metal or plastic), especially one carried by police or guards.
“As soon as the fight started, the guards came in swinging their sticks.”
countable, uncountableThe vertical member of a cope-and-stick joint.
“When cutting the door parts, I cut all the copes first, then the sticks.”
countable, uncountableA mast or part of a mast of a ship; also, a yard.
countable, figuratively, uncountableA piece (of furniture, especially if wooden).
“We were so poor we didn't have one stick of furniture.”
“It is more than poor Philip is worth, with all his savings and his little sticks of furniture.”
countable, uncountableAny roughly cylindrical (or rectangular) unit of a substance.
“Sealing wax is available as a cylindrical or rectangular stick.”
Canada, US, countable, uncountableA small rectangular block, with a length several times its width, which contains by volume one half of a cup of shortening (butter, margarine or lard).
“The recipe calls for half a stick of butter.”
countable, uncountableA standard rectangular strip of chewing gum.
“Don’t hog all that gum, give me a stick!”
countable, slang, uncountableA cigarette (usually a tobacco cigarette, less often a marijuana cigarette).
“Cigarettes are taxed at one dollar per stick.”
countable, uncountableA bunch of something wrapped around or attached to a stick.
“My parents bought us each a stick of cotton candy.”
archaic, countable, uncountableA scroll that is rolled around (mounted on, attached to) a stick.
“Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it[…]”
countable, uncountableThe structure to which a set of bombs in a bomber aircraft are attached and which drops the bombs when it is released. The bombs themselves and, by extension, any load of similar items dropped in quick succession such as paratroopers or containers.
“Scores of transport planes streamed in to drop stick after stick of containers until the entire sky over the coast was polka-dotted with brightly coloured parachutes.”
“A stick of bombs fell straight across Wotton; blew up half a dozen houses.”
“James and I were in the same stick of five guys going through free fall school last September.”
US, colloquial, countable, uncountableA manual transmission, a vehicle equipped with a manual transmission, so called because of the stick-like, i.e. twig-like, control (the gear shift) with which the driver of such a vehicle controls its transmission.
“I grew up driving a stick, but many people my age didn't.”
US, colloquial, uncountableVehicles, collectively, equipped with manual transmissions.
“I grew up driving stick, but many people my age didn't.”
countable, uncountableThe control column of an aircraft; a joystick. (By convention, a wheel-like control mechanism with a handgrip on opposite sides, similar to the steering wheel of an automobile, can also be called the "stick", although "yoke" or "control wheel" is more commonly seen.)
uncountableUse of the stick to control the aircraft.
“For example: in making a turn, should you throw on too much stick and not enough rudder, you'll sideslip.”
US, World-War-I, countable, slang, uncountableAn aircraft’s propeller.
countable, uncountableA joystick.
“The keyboard offers a full range of actions including Fight and you are given the option of using a Kempston stick for the movement combat.”
“When you’re swooping, looping, and diving with the analog stick (either using the nunchuk or the Classic controller), the game feels very much like its 32-bit predecessor; […]”
countable, uncountableA memory stick.
“For ultimate presentation portability, a Powerpoint can be saved to a stick as images.”
countable, slang, uncountableA handgun.
“A stick in the hand, a drop in the eye.”
“You think you’re real now you’ve got a couple sticks? My favourite younger, he got stabbed in my bits. And if he died fam, I promise I’d have quit.”
“Bitch, pig, pull out with the stick / everything I hit like a lick/ We don’t miss”
countable, dated, uncountableA composing stick, the tool used by compositors to assemble lines of type.
“[…]although the headings may often be in other type, still, as these are composed in the same stick, they cannot fail to justify;[…]”
countable, slang, uncountableThe clarinet.
“Arsene, boy, ain't you worried about your clarinet? Where'd you leave that stick, man?”
countable, uncountableA long thin implement used to control a ball or puck in sports like hockey, polo, and lacrosse.
“Tripping with the stick is a violation of the rules.”
countable, uncountableThe short whip carried by a jockey.
countable, uncountableA board as used in board sports, such as a surfboard, snowboard, or skateboard.
countable, uncountableThe pole bearing a small flag that marks the hole.
“His wedge shot bounced off the stick and went in the hole.”
US, slang, uncountableThe cue used in billiards, pool, snooker, etc.
“His stroke with that two-piece stick is a good as anybody's in the club.”
US, countable, slang, uncountableThe game of pool, or an individual pool game.
“He shoots a mean stick of pool.”
“Come in, have a good time, drink some beer, shoot some stick, listen to some music.”
countable, uncountableThe long-range driving ability of a golf club.
“I doubted that the three iron was enough stick.”
countable, uncountableThe potential hitting power of a specific bat.
countable, uncountableGeneral hitting ability.
“Vaughn has to hit and keep hitting or this will be another year when the Mets don't have enough stick to win.”
countable, uncountableThe potential accuracy of a hockey stick, implicating also the player using it.
countable, dated, slang, uncountableA person or group of people. (Perhaps, in some senses, because people are, broadly speaking, tall and thin, like pieces of wood.)
“Your father's a great old stick. He's really been very good to me.”
““[…]He’s a good doctor but an odd stick—odder by far than I am, Emily, and yet nobody ever says he’s not all there. Can you account for that? He doesn’t believe in God—and I am not such a fool as that”
countable, dated, slang, uncountableA thin or wiry person; particularly a flat-chested woman.
“"She's a stick, this one. She lacks your—" he patted her left breast— "equipment."”
countable, dated, slang, uncountableAn assistant planted in the audience.
“The kid was a stick, a plant, a student from UNLV who picked up a few bucks nightly by saying the words "seven of hearts."”
countable, dated, slang, uncountableA shill or house player.
“A shill is also called a stick, and the role of the shill or stick is to make the customer relax and feel at ease.”
countable, dated, slang, uncountableA stiff, stupidly obstinate person.
countable, dated, slang, uncountableA fighter pilot.
“Bill Kirk, described by Robin as a "hell of a stick," didn't even attend college until after the Vietnam War.”
South-Africa, countable, dated, slang, uncountableA small group of (infantry) soldiers.
“I remember when we dreaded the rain, as our stick of soldiers walked through the damp, tick-infested long grass of the Zambezi valley,[…]”
countable, figuratively, uncountableA negative stimulus or a punishment. (This sense derives from the metaphor of using a stick, a long piece of wood, to poke or beat a beast of burden to compel it to move forward.)
“We were tempted with the carrot but subtly threatened with the stick.”
“What about contempt? Isn't it used by the judiciary as a stick to dissuade people from writing or talking about them?”
“Back in 2009, when Democrats tried but failed to take significant climate action, their policy proposals consisted mainly of sticks—limits on emissions in the form of permits that businesses could buy”
slang, uncountableCorporal punishment, beatings
“The child killers got some stick. I saw a woman throw a basin of scalding water over a baby killer.”
““[…] Nigel used the word ‘invasion’ for a long time and got a huge amount of stick […]” he says, referring to the total number of men, women and children who have arrived by small boat in the past sev”
British, countable, figuratively, uncountableCriticism or ridicule, often in the expressions "get a lot of stick", "get some stick", "come in for some stick", etc.
“Most people can remember their first taste of cider: sandwiched between an illicit fag and a bout of throwing up. It’s always been the teen drink of choice: available in group-sized bottles and with a”
“I got some stick personally because of my walking attire. I arrived to training fully kitted out in sturdy walking boots.”
“'I have nothing against the players at Cardiff, because they did all help me to become a better player.' He added: 'I'll probably have a lot of stick when I return to Ninian Park for that game, but I ”
countable, slang, uncountableVigor; spirit; effort, energy, intensity.
“He really gave that digging some stick.” — He threw himself into the task of digging.
“She really gave that bully some stick.” — She berated him.
“Give it some stick!”
countable, slang, uncountableVigorous driving of a car; gas.
“Skunk really gave it some stick all the way to Caliban's place, we passed a good few Coppers but they all seemed to turn the blind eye.”
countable, obsolete, uncountableAn English Imperial unit of length equal to 2 inches.
“There was another speech in that day's news — a speech which The Times printed on the front page because it was part of a front-page story, and in full — it was only two sticks long; printed in full j”
archaic, countable, rare, uncountableA quantity of eels, usually 25.
“The stick is employed for eels, and contained twenty-five.”
“In the same charter, Nigel granted another 10 sticks of eels yielded by the fishery of Polwere to the abbey[…]”
countable, uncountableAny of the eight 16-character groups making up the 128 characters of the 7-bit ASCII character set.
uncountableThe tendency to stick (remain stuck), stickiness.
countable, uncountableThe traction of tires on the road surface.
uncountableThat which sticks (remains attached to another surface).
countable, uncountableThe amount of fishing line resting on the water surface before a cast; line stick.
“Problem: A lot of stick and a lack of energy on the forward stroke.”
countableA thrust with a pointed instrument; a stab.
“What if Veronica Prego was lying about who drew the blood and it was her own carelessness, not Joyce Fogel's, which caused the needle stick?”
obsoleteThe customary length (according to the material used) of a piece or roll of textile fabrics imported from Flanders.
IrelandA member of the Official IRA.

verb

To cut a piece of wood to be the stick member of a cope-and-stick joint.
dated, slang, transitiveTo compose; to set, or arrange, in a composing stick.
“to stick type”
transitiveTo furnish or set with sticks.
To hit with a stick.
intransitiveTo become or remain attached; to adhere.
“The tape will not stick if it melts.”
“The Citizens in their rage, imagining that euery poſt in the Churche had bin one of yᵉ Souldyers, ſhot habbe or nabbe at randon^([sic – meaning random]) uppe to the Roode lofte, and to the Chancell, l”
“I haue stucke vnto thy Testimonies: O Lord put me not to shame.”
intransitiveTo jam; to stop moving.
“The lever sticks if you push it too far up.”
transitiveTo tolerate, to endure, to stick with.
“"I've had ten years of it, scratching enough out of it to dress and feed myself when the going's good and sharing a room with a girl friend or pigging it in some cheap boarding-house, and doing a peri”
“Why do most course organizers stick the job for less than five years?”
intransitiveTo persist.
“His old nickname stuck.”
“"Our team did brilliantly to be in the game. We stuck at it and did a good job. This is disappointing but we'll think about the next game tomorrow."”
intransitiveOf snow, to remain frozen on landing.
intransitiveTo remain loyal; to remain firm.
“Just stick to your strategy, and you will win.”
“After this contencion, the common people did ſticke vnto king Agis, and the riche men followed Leonidas, praying and perſwading him not to forſake them: and further, they did ſo intreate the Senators,”
“What I get from work makes me a better mother, and what I get from being a mother makes me a better journalist. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.”
dated, intransitiveTo hesitate, to be reluctant; to refuse (in negative phrases).
“For thou art so possess’d with murderous hate That ’gainst thyself thou stick’st not to conspire.”
“Some stick not to say, that the Parson and Attorney forg’d a Will, for which they were well Paid […]”
“, 2nd edition edited by Samuel Johnson, London: J. Payne, 1756, Part I, p. 12, Though a cup of cold water from some hand may not be without its reward, yet stick not thou for wine and oil for the woun”
dated, intransitiveTo be puzzled (at something), have difficulty understanding.
“He that has to do with young scholars, especially in mathematics, may perceive how their minds open by degrees, and how it is exercise alone that opens them. Sometimes they will stick a long time at a”
dated, intransitiveTo cause difficulties, scruples, or hesitation.
“1708, Jonathan Swift, The Sentiments of a Church-of-England-Man, with respect to Religion and Government, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, 7th edition, Edinburgh: G. Hamilton et al., 1752, Volume I, Mi”
transitiveTo attach with glue or as if by gluing.
“Stick the label on the jar.”
transitiveTo place, set down (quickly or carelessly).
“Stick your bag over there and come with me.”
“Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what”
transitiveTo press (something with a sharp point) into something else.
“The balloon will pop when I stick this pin in it.”
“to stick a needle into one's finger”
“The points of spears are stuck within the shield.”
transitiveTo stab.
“In certain of their sacrifices they had a lamb, they sticked him, they killed him, and made sacrifice of him: this lamb was Christ the Son of God, he was killed, sticked, and made a sweet-smelling sac”
“Thou stickest a dagger in me: I shall never see my gold again: fourscore ducats at a sitting! fourscore ducats!”
“[…] ſome of them attempted with Spears to ſtick me in the Sides; but, by good luck, I had on me a Buff Jerkin, which they could not pierce.”
transitiveTo fix on a pointed instrument; to impale.
“to stick an apple on a fork”
archaic, transitiveTo adorn or deck with things fastened on as by piercing.
“my shroud of white, stuck all with yew”
transitiveTo perform (a landing or a shot) perfectly.
“Once again, the world champion sticks the dismount.”
“stick the landing”
transitiveTo propagate plants by cuttings.
“Stick cuttings from geraniums promptly.”
transitiveTo run or plane (mouldings) in a machine, in contradistinction to working them by hand. Such mouldings are said to be stuck.
dated, transitiveTo bring to a halt; to stymie; to puzzle.
“to stick somebody with a hard problem”
dated, slang, transitiveTo impose upon; to compel to pay; sometimes, to cheat.
“Behind all that languid talk she was feverishly computing, "I wonder how much I can stick him for it. A hundred and fifty? But it's worth that - two hundred. He won't value it unless the price is stif”
“Chillin' in a Benz with my amigos / Tryin' to stick a nigga for his pesos”
US, intransitive, slangTo have sexual intercourse with.
“You ain't lickin' this, you ain't stickin' this”
“You leave your girl around me; if she's bad she's gonna get stuck.”
UK, intransitiveTo stand pat: to cease taking any more cards and finalize one's hand.

adj

informalLikely to stick; sticking, sticky.
“A non-stick pan. A stick plaster.”
“A sticker type of glue. The stickest kind of gum.”

name

The Chapman Stick, an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman.

Formssticks(plural) · sticks(present, singular, third-person) · sticking(participle, present) · sticked(participle, past) · sticked(past) · stuck(participle, past) · stuck(past) · sticked(archaic, participle, past) · sticked(archaic, past) · sticker(comparative) · stickest(superlative) · Sticks(plural)

Source: Wiktionary

Found In

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Appeared In

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