I.
1.
a.
(1)
(2)
b.
< were able to find enough dry sticks to start a campfire >
< cut a few sticks of kindling >
c.
< interwoven willow sticks >
< cane sticks for oboes — Time >
< in the postwar world sticks of timber will be shot full of strengthening plastic — Science News Letter >
sometimes
< the big sticks that housed early Americans and carried the canvas on tall Yankee clipper ships — Monsanto Magazine >
< started with such a big stick I couldn't even move one end of it — G.W.Brace >
2.
< cut himself a hiking stick >
< the stick of a skyrocket >
< an apple on a stick >
< manicure sticks of orangewood >
< a burnt stick of a match >
as
a.
(1)
< one hand resting on the white stick in his belt — Kay Boyle >
< cop in full kit, his stick ready in his hand — R.O.Bowen >
— compare nightstick
(2)
< programs carried on today are nowhere near large enough to be effective either as sticks or carrots — S.P.Hayes b.1910 >
< the stick — the powerful instrumentalities of institutionalized violence — Julian Towster >
(3)
< got a fair share of the stick — Brian James >
b.
(1)
(2) sticks plural
c.
< tossed his hat and stick on the table — Waldo Frank >
< iron-pointed ferrule that distinguishes continental sticks — Hilton Brown >
d.
(1)
< all sticks shall be made of wood — Official Ice Hockey Guide >
(2)
(3) sticks plural
(4)
e.
(1)
(2)
< though no professional conductor, handles the stick astonishingly well — New York Times >
f.
3.
< house stood facing her, not a stick of it changed — Allen Tate >
< nothing there … was a windbreak tree, windmill, stick of fence — C.T.Jackson >
< had grown up in the town and knew every stick and stone of it >
4.
5.
a.
b.
c.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
d. sticks plural
e. slang
f.
(1)
(2)
(3)
g.
(1)
(2)
h.
6.
< cinnamon sticks >
< stick of candy >
< stick of sealing wax >
< stick of dynamite >
< shaving stick >
< lipsticks and other cosmetic and medicated sticks >
< cucumber sticks >
< pound of butter in sticks >
specifically
7.
a.
b.
8.
a.
< queer stick >
< a decent old stick — Robert Graves >
< they'd only been kidding you … they were good sticks — David Ballantyne >
b.
< this poor, dim stick — Jean Stafford >
< was also something of a stick … rarely spoke to anyone who was not of her own social station — Aubrey Menen >
< such a thing as carrying niceness too far — a girl could end by being a stick — Hamilton Basso >
< is a regular stick on the stage — Emily Eden >
c.
9.
a.
< next task is to get the big sticks out of the woods — D.C.Peattie >
< a clear stick of ninety feet was nothing unusual among these giants — G.W.Johnson >
b.
c. sticks plural
(1)
< bringing in hordes of Indians from the sticks — Guatemala News >
< back in the sticks, far from anything — Bill Wolf >
(2)
< in case you're from the sticks, I'll explain it to you — Willard Temple >
< a musical comedy during its trial run in the sticks — J.M.Conly >
(3)
< sent him back to the sticks >
10.
a.
< celery sticks >
< stewed a few sticks of rhubarb >
b.
< watering the dry sticks of hollyhock — Mari Sandoz >
11.
a.
< do my sailing with a rag and stick — H.A.Calahan >
< our eyes on the bobbing, varnished stick of the dinghy — Vincent McHugh >
b.
12.
< a cup of tea with a stick in it >
13.
< upholstered almost every stick of furniture herself — E.L.Howe >
< some dusty sticks of Victorian furniture — Margery Allingham >
< series of business failures that left him with hardly a stick to his name >
14.
< fever left him weak on his sticks >
15.
a.
b.
(1)
(2)
c.
16. sticks plural
17.
a.
< jettisoning its stick of bombs — J.W.Bellah >
< dropped a few sticks off target — Jack Alexander >
— compare salvo
b.
< our stick was briefed again on various subjects — T.B.Bruff >
< dropping two sticks of paratroopers simultaneously — J.G.Cozzens >
•
- hold a stick to
- short end of the stick
- to sticks
- wrong end of the stick
[II.
1.
2.
3.
< could … rustle news, solicit ads, stick type, make up forms, put the paper to bed — S.H.Adams >
III.
1.
< stick cinnamon >
< a stick deodorant >
2.
< a stick bridge >
< stick chimney >
IV.
< stick blind >
< stick stark staring mad >
V.
transitive verb
1.
a.
(1)
(2) chiefly dialect
(3)
< man who could stick a cow for clover bloat — Time >
b.
c.
< stick salmon >
< had stuck pigs in India >
2.
< died from a knife stuck in his back >
< stuck a needle in her finger >
< too thick to stick a pin through it >
< accidentally stuck his finger in his eye >
< stuck his umbrella in my ribs >
< test by sticking a fork into the crust >
3.
a.
< stick pins in a pincushion >
< stick a marker in the ground >
< stick candles in a birthday cake >
< stuck a flower in his buttonhole >
< stuck his pipe between his teeth >
< a flower stuck behind his ear — Judson Philips >
< had his pistol stuck in his belt >
< stuck a feather in his hatband >
b.
(1)
< an apple on a fork >
< kills a fowl, sticks it and the banana blossom on a spit — J.G.Frazer >
(2)
c.
< suddenly stuck his arm out >
< stuck his hands behind him >
< sitting with his feet stuck out into the aisle >
< stuck his finger down his collar >
< stuck his chin out pugnaciously >
< an unpleasant way of sticking his nose up in the air >
< sticks out his chest and struts away >
< stick out your tongue and say “ah” >
< prices jump … the minute you stick your head inside the door — T.H.Fielding >
< soldier foolish enough to stick his head over the rock — Burtt Evans >
< stuck his face into mine >
4.
< stick the letter under the door >
< stick a book back on its shelf >
< stick a cake in the oven >
< stick the washing in the machine >
< stick their prepositions in front of the verbs — John Hilton >
< stuck me in the shore patrol brig — R.O.Bowen >
< stuck the prettiest girls in the front row >
< stuck his hat on his head and left >
< a cottage stuck down among a swarm of other cottages — Morley Callaghan >
< stuck a few potted plants around the room >
5.
a.
< stick a pincushion full of pins >
< an orange stuck with cloves >
< top of the wall had been stuck full of broken glass >
< wore a coat stuck with badges >
b.
< a brisk trade in pretty things; buildings are stuck all over with them — Clive Bell >
< windows stuck full of plants and knicknacks on glass shelves >
6.
< stick a stamp on a letter >
< stick down the flap of an envelope >
< stick a poster on the wall >
< stick up a notice on the bulletin board >
< stick a handle on a teapot with glue >
7.
a.
< expert at sticking his friends for drinks at liar's dice >
< stick his host for the cost of several long-distance calls >
b.
(1)
< what do they stick you for a meal >
(2)
< everybody sticks the dogface — James Jones >
< fixed the prices and … stuck the rich to favor the poor — Marcus Duffield >
8.
9.
a.
< could not move a yard among people without getting stuck — James Cameron >
< prevent foreign matter from sticking valve — Air Tools >
< had been stuck there for a week by bad weather >
< here he was, stuck in a shore job — Nevil Shute >
< voice is stuck somewhere below his larynx — H.A.Overstreet >
< got stuck halfway up the hill >
b.
< stuck him with the first question they asked >
< you can't stick him about his native land — T.H.Fielding >
< getting stuck for a word to rhyme with moon — R.K.Leavitt >
< was stuck for a technique that would deal with them adequately — New Yorker >
10.
a.
< had been stuck several times in the past year by phony antique dealers >
b.
< it is your car and you are stuck with it — Gregor Felsen >
< had been stuck with the job of washing the dishes >
< think you're going to stick me with a bum rap like that — Courtney McClendon >
< went back on the road again, stuck with a losing show — F.B.Gipson >
< stuck with the most complex monetary system left on earth — Richard Joseph >
< things like debt and family illness can stick you — Time >
11. chiefly Britain
< couldn't stick that pace all day — Adrian Bell >
< can't stick this darned town any longer — Christopher Isherwood >
< couldn't stick life in some stuffy little house — T.H.Raddall >
< none of the girls could stick him — Edith C. Rivett >
— often used with it
< hoped she would try to stick it a little longer — F.M.Ford >
< don't known how I'm going to stick it till Tuesday — Margaret Kennedy >
< were going out to see if we could stick it — A.R.Williams >
intransitive verb
1.
a.
< was found with a knife sticking in his heart >
< thorn stuck in his finger and broke off >
< javelin stuck in the ground where it fell >
< arrow stuck in the target >
b.
< boat stuck in the sand >
< car stuck in the mud >
c.
< thin silk robe which stuck to his sweating barrellike torso — T.B.Costain >
< glue had stuck to his fingers >
< this stamp won't stick >
< several pages had stuck together >
< keep the biscuits from sticking to the pan >
2.
a.
< stuck on the farm while his brothers traveled >
< decided to stick where he was >
b.
< two sentences stick in my mind — Kenneth Roberts >
< boyhood nickname had stuck >
< anyone so beyond suspicion that no slander can stick to him — Elmer Davis >
< childhood fears that had stuck with him >
c.
< many … reorganizations in the past have failed to stick — New Republic >
— used chiefly in the phrase make stick
< making the requirements stick — New Republic >
< fifteen years before an arrest could be made to stick — New York Times >
d. chiefly Britain
e.
3.
a.
< his sermons … stick too closely to the point to be entertaining — T.S.Eliot >
< the faculty should stick to education and abjure finance — R.M.Lovett >
< stick to business >
< would stick to his gladiatorial work for the joy and thrill of it — C.E.Montague >
or with at
< sticks at his job >
< sticks persistently at his studies >
b.
< call upon every American to stick to his post until the last battle is won — H.S.Truman >
< stuck to his ship till it sank >
< stick to their boards no matter what happens around them — Margaret Biddle >
c.
< is full of good men … they'll help you and stick by you — Sherwood Anderson >
< a man who stuck to his friends >
d.
< stick to a contract >
< translation stuck closely to the original >
< always stuck to his word >
sometimes with by
< stuck by his first account >
e.
< was stronger than his opponent but the latter stuck with him and earned a draw >
< managed to stick to the leader's heels for two laps >
4.
< handle had stuck >
< something had stuck in the pipe >
< food stuck in his throat >
< switch had a tendency to stick >
< desk drawer always stuck >
5.
a.
< was in a hole and would stick at little to get out of it — John Buchan >
< not one who would stick at calling her at midnight — Aurelia Levi >
< with someone else to do the thinking for him he would stick at nothing — F.W.Crofts >
b.
< stick at grammar >
< what we stick at in most religious poetry is not the beliefs but the emotions — J.P.Bishop >
c.
< memory failed him at the same place he had stuck the first time >
< stuck in the middle of the verse >
6.
< had a book sticking from his pocket >
< spot the house by the air conditioner sticking through the window >
< aerial sticks up above the chimney >
< nose of the car was sticking out of the garage >
< wreck of the tiny store sticking up in the ruins — C.G.D.Roberts >
< tail unit sticking high up into the air — London Calling >
Synonyms: see adhere, demur
•
- stick in one's craw
- stick in one's throat
- stick it on
- stick one's neck out
- stick together
- stick to one's fingers
- stick to one's guns
- stick to one's knitting
- stick to one's last
- stick to one's ribs
- stuck on
VI.
1.
2.
a.
< seemed to be at a stick >
b.
< made no stick at all >
3.
4.
VII.
1.
2.
•
- stick it to
- to the good
- to the ground
- to the hilt
- to the last extremity
- to the letter
- to the manner born
- to the max
- to the nail
- to the nines
- to the nub
- to the point
- to the punch
- to the purpose
- to the queen's taste
- t'other
- tother
- to the skies
- to the sky
- to the teeth
- to the tick
- to the vantage
- toti-
- toti
- toties
- toties quoties