/stʌmp/
OriginFrom Middle English stumpe, stompe (“stump”), from or akin to Middle Low German stump (“stump”) or Middle Dutch stomp, from Old Saxon or Old Dutch *stump, from Proto-West Germanic *stump, from Proto-Germanic *stumpaz (“stump, blunt, part cut off”).
Cognate with Middle Dutch stomp (“stump”), Old High German stumph (“stump”) (German Stumpf), Old Norse stumpr (“stump”). More at stop.
- The remains of something that has been cut off; especially the remains of a tree, the remains of a limb.
- The place or occasion at which a campaign takes place; the husting.
- figurativelyA place or occasion at which a person harangues or otherwise addresses a group in a manner suggesting political oration.
“Paul Muniment had taken hold of Hyacinth, and said, 'I'll trouble you to stay, you little desperado. I'll be blowed if I ever expected to see you on the stump!'”
- One of three small wooden posts which together with the bails make the wicket and that the fielding team attempt to hit with the ball.
- An artists’ drawing tool made of rolled paper used to smudge or blend marks made with charcoal, Conté crayon, pencil or other drawing media.
- A wooden or concrete pole used to support a house.
- humorous, slangA leg.
- A pin in a tumbler lock which forms an obstruction to throwing the bolt except when the gates of the tumblers are properly arranged, as by the key.
- A pin or projection in a lock to form a guide for a movable piece.
- informal, transitiveTo stop, confuse, or puzzle.
- informal, intransitiveTo baffle; to make unable to find an answer to a question or problem.
“This last question has me stumped.”
- intransitiveTo campaign.
“He’s been stumping for that reform for months.”
- US, colloquial, transitiveTo travel over (a state, a district, etc.) giving speeches for electioneering purposes.
- transitiveTo get a batsman out stumped.
- transitiveTo bowl down the stumps of (a wicket).
“A herd of boys with clamour bowled, / And stumped the wicket.”
- intransitiveTo walk heavily or clumsily, plod, trudge.
“Mrs Dibble made for the kitchen, stumping violently with her crutches and heaving her bulk along with the obvious determination to submerge her wrongs by resorting to the gin-bottle.”
- transitiveTo reduce to a stump; to truncate or cut off a part of.
- transitiveTo strike unexpectedly; to stub, as the toe against something fixed.
Formsstumps(plural) · stumps(present, singular, third-person) · stumping(participle, present) · stumped(participle, past) · stumped(past) · stump(infinitive) · stump(first-person, present, singular) · stumped(first-person, past, singular) · stump(present, second-person, singular) · stumpest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · stumped(past, second-person, singular) · stumpedst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · stumpeth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · stumped(past, singular, third-person) · stump(plural, present) · stumped(past, plural) · stump(present, subjunctive) · stumped(past, subjunctive) · stump(imperative, present) · -(imperative, past)