stick
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: stĭk
ipa: /stɪk/
homophone: stich
rhymes: -ɪk
Forms: form: sticks
form: sticking
form: stuck
form: stuck
form: sticked
form: sticked
Etymology: From Middle English stiken (“to stick, pierce, stab, remain embedded, be fastened”), from Old English stician (“to pierce, stab, remain embedded, be fastened”), from Proto-West Germanic *stikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *stikkōną (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tig-, *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”).
See also the related Proto-Germanic *stikaną, whence West Frisian stekke, Low German steken, Dutch steken, German stechen; compare also Danish stikke, Swedish sticka.
Cognate with the first etymology (same PIE root, different paths through Germanic and Old English), to stitch, and to etiquette, via French étiquette – see there for further discussion.
Senses: examples: text: The tape will not stick if it melts.
text: 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, leauing ſome of theyr arrowes ſticking in the Images.
ref: 1577, Raphaell Holinshed; Richarde Stanyhurst [i.e., Richard Stanihurst], “[The Historie of Irelande […].] The Thirde Booke of the Historie of Ireland, Comprising the Raigne of Henry the Eyght: ….”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Hunne, →OCLC, pages 77–78, column 2:
text: I haue stucke vnto thy Testimonies: O Lord put me not to shame.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 119:31:
text: Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.
ref: 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
synonyms: word: cleave
word: cling
word: adhere
word: attach
word: bond
word: cleave
word: cling
word: cohere
word: conglutinate
word: glue
word: hug
word: stick
word: stick together
word: stick with
glosses: To become or remain attached; to adhere.
examples: text: The lever sticks if you push it too far up.
synonyms: word: jam
word: stall
word: anchor
word: astand
word: blin
word: brake
word: cease
word: desist
word: draw up
word: grind to a halt
word: halt
word: hold
word: immobilize
word: leave off
word: rest
word: stall
word: stay
word: stint
word: stop
word: swike
glosses: To jam; to stop moving.
examples: text: "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 perish when I've been out of a job. I've got to the point where I can't stick it any longer. I'd get out tomorrow if I could find something else to do."
ref: 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 5:
text: Why do most course organizers stick the job for less than five years?
ref: 1998, Patrick McEvoy, Educating the Future GP: the course organizer's handbook, page 7:
synonyms: word: live with
word: put up with
word: abear
word: abide
word: aby
word: accept
word: allow
word: bear
word: bide
word: brook
word: dree
word: endure
word: forbear
word: go along with
word: live with
word: pass
word: pocket
word: pouch
word: put up with
word: stand
word: stick
word: stomach
word: suffer
word: swallow
word: take
word: take sitting down
word: thole
word: tolerate
word: undergang
word: undergo
glosses: To tolerate, to endure, to stick with.
examples: text: His old nickname stuck.
text: "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."
ref: 2011 December 10, David Ornstein quoting David Moyes, “Arsenal 1-0 Everton”, in BBC Sport:
synonyms: word: abide
word: carry on
word: abide
word: astand
word: bear up
word: carry on
word: continue
word: endure
word: follow up
word: hang in there
word: hold on
word: hold out
word: hold the line
word: hold up
word: keep a stiff upper lip
word: keep trying
word: keep up
word: persevere
word: persist
word: plod
word: plug
word: plug away
word: resist
word: soldier on
word: stay
word: stay the course
word: stay the distance
word: stick it out
word: stick to
word: stick by one's guns
word: stick to one's guns
word: stick with
word: stick with it
glosses: To persist.
synonyms: pitch
settle
glosses: Of snow, to remain frozen on landing.
examples: text: Just stick to your strategy, and you will win.
text: 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, in whom conſiſteth the chiefe authority,[…]
ref: 1579, Plutarke of Chæronea [i.e., Plutarch], “Agis and Cleomenes”, in Thomas North, transl., The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romaines, […], London: […] Richard Field, →OCLC, page 852:
text: 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.
ref: 2007, Amanda Lamb, Smotherhood: Wickedly Funny Confessions from the Early Years:
synonyms: stand by
stick by
glosses: To remain loyal; to remain firm.
examples: text: For thou art so possess’d with murderous hate
That ’gainst thyself thou stick’st not to conspire.
ref: 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 10”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
text: Some stick not to say, that the Parson and Attorney forg’d a Will, for which they were well Paid […]
ref: 1712, John Arbuthnot, chapter 1, in Law is a Bottomless Pit, London: John Morphew:
text: , 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 wounds of the distressed […]
text: And so careful were they to put off the Honour of great Actions from themselves, and to centre it upon God, that they stuck not sometimes to depreciate themselves that they might more effectually honour him.
ref: 1740, James Blair, Our Saviour's divine sermon on the mount … explained, volume 3, page 26:
text: For he that sticks not at one bad Action, will not scruple another to vindicate himself: And so, Devil-like, become the Tempter, and the Accuser too!
ref: 1741, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXXVII”, in Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […]; and J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 375:
text: The First-fruits were a common Oblation to their Deities; but the chief Part of their Worship consisted in sacrificiing Animals : And this they did out of a real Persuasion, that their Gods were pleased with their Blood, and were nourished with the Smoke, and Nidor of them; and therefore the more costly, they thought them the more acceptable, for which Reason, they stuck not sometimes to regale them with human Sacrifices.
ref: 1743, Thomas Stackhouse, A Compleat Body of Speculative and Practical Divinity, edition 3 (London), page 524
synonyms: word: falter
word: waver
word: boggle
word: wobble
word: deliberate
word: demur
word: halt
word: waffle
word: dither
word: falter
word: hesitate
word: hover
word: mammer
word: scruple
word: stand shilly-shally
word: stick
word: swither
word: waver
glosses: To hesitate, to be reluctant; to refuse (in negative phrases).
examples: text: 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 part of a demonstration, not for want of perceiving the connection of two ideas; that, to one whose understanding is more exercised, is as visible as any thing can be.
ref: a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC, § 6, pages 29–30:
synonyms: puzzle
glosses: To be puzzled (at something), have difficulty understanding.
examples: 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, Miscellanies in Prose, p. 73,
[…] this is the Difficulty that seemeth chiefly to stick with the most reasonable of those, who, from a mere Scruple of Conscience, refuse to join with us upon the Revolution Principle […] .
glosses: To cause difficulties, scruples, or hesitation.
examples: text: Stick the label on the jar.
synonyms: agglutinate
conglutinate
glue
gum
paste
glosses: To attach with glue or as if by gluing.
examples: text: Stick your bag over there and come with me.
text: 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 was left of it to ravellings.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
synonyms: pop
set down
glosses: To place, set down (quickly or carelessly).
examples: text: The balloon will pop when I stick this pin in it.
text: to stick a needle into one's finger
text: The points of spears are stuck within the shield.
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
synonyms: pierce
prick
puncture
glosses: To press (something with a sharp point) into something else.
examples: text: 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 sacrifice for our sins.
ref: circa 1583, John Jewel, in a sermon republished in 1847 in The Works of John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, portion 2, page 969
text: Thou stickest a dagger in me: I shall never see my gold again: fourscore ducats at a sitting! fourscore ducats!
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
text: […] 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.
ref: 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Gives Some Account of Himself and Family, His First Inducements to Travel. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 10:
text: […] would haue [=have] sticked him with a dagger […]
ref: 1809, Grafton's chronicle, or history of England, volume 2, page 135:
text: It was a shame […] to stick him under the other gentleman's arm while he was redding the fray.
ref: 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:
text: The defendant said he didn't shoot; "he sticked him with a knife."
ref: 1908, The Northeastern Reporter, volume 85, page 693:
synonyms: word: pierce
word: prick
word: puncture
word: jab
word: run through
word: chef
word: chib
word: ching
word: chive
word: enthrill
word: foin
word: gore
word: gride
word: jab
word: job
word: juke
word: kebab
word: knifecrime
word: lancinate
word: pigstick
word: pink
word: poach
word: run through
word: shank
word: shiv
word: spear
word: speet
word: splash
word: stab
word: stick
word: stob
word: stog
word: thrust
word: yerk
glosses: To press (something with a sharp point) into something else.
To stab.
qualifier: now only in dialects
examples: text: to stick an apple on a fork
synonyms: word: fix
word: impale
word: stake
word: run through
word: transfix
word: empierce
word: fix
word: impale
word: pierce
word: prick
word: puncture
word: run through
word: stake
word: stick
word: transfix
word: transpierce
glosses: To fix on a pointed instrument; to impale.
examples: text: my shroud of white, stuck all with yew
ref: c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:
glosses: To adorn or deck with things fastened on as by piercing.
examples: text: Once again, the world champion sticks the dismount.
text: stick the landing
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
gymnastics
hobbies
lifestyle
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sports
glosses: To perform (a landing or a shot) perfectly.
examples: text: Stick cuttings from geraniums promptly.
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: To propagate plants by cuttings.
glosses: To run or plane (mouldings) in a machine, in contradistinction to working them by hand. Such mouldings are said to be stuck.
examples: text: to stick somebody with a hard problem
synonyms: stump
thwart
glosses: To bring to a halt; to stymie; to puzzle.
examples: text: 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 stiff."
ref: 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 158:
text: Chillin' in a Benz with my amigos / Tryin' to stick a nigga for his pesos
ref: 1996, “No Time”, in Hard Core, performed by Lil' Kim ft. Diddy:
glosses: To impose upon; to compel to pay; sometimes, to cheat.
examples: text: You ain't lickin' this, you ain't stickin' this
ref: 1996, Lil' Kim, “Not Tonight”:
text: You leave your girl around me; if she's bad she's gonna get stuck.
ref: 2005, “Stay Fly”, in Jordan Houston, Darnell Carlton, Paul Beauregard, Premro Smith, Marlon Goodwin, David Brown, Willie Hutchinson (lyrics), Most Known Unknown, performed by Three 6 Mafia (featuring Young Buck, 8 Ball, and MJG), Sony BMG:
synonyms: word: have sex
word: approach
word: cohabit
word: company
word: copulate
word: couple
word: engage in sex
word: exchange flesh
word: have intimate relations
word: have marital relations
word: have sex
word: have sexual relations
word: intercourse
word: know
word: know someone in the biblical sense
word: make love
word: mate
word: share a bed
word: sleep together
word: strain
word: bang
word: bauf
word: beat
word: bone
word: boff
word: boink
word: bonk
word: bop
word: bounce
word: breed
word: bump nasties
word: bump uglies
word: catch a dick
word: dance
word: discuss Uganda
word: dip one's pen in someone's inkwell
word: do it
word: do the deed
word: do the nasty
word: eff
word: engender
word: expletive deleted
word: feck
word: frack
word: frak
word: frick
word: frig
word: fuck
word: get busy
word: get down
word: get freaky
word: get it
word: get it on
word: get jiggy
word: get laid
word: get lucky
word: get one's dick wet
word: get one's end away
word: get one's freak on
word: get one's groove on
word: get one's leg over
word: get one's oats
word: get physical
word: get some
word: get the dirty water off one's chest
word: graft the forked tree
word: go all the way
word: haul one's ashes
word: have it away
word: have it off
word: hide the salami
word: hide the sausage
word: hide the wienie
word: hike the Appalachian Trail
word: hook up
word: hump
word: jig-jig
word: knock boots
word: lay pipe
word: lay the pipe
word: make it
word: make out
word: make the beast with two backs
word: make whoopee
word: meddle
word: ming
word: Netflix and chill
word: penetrate
word: pipe
word: pipe down
word: play
word: play hide the sausage
word: pound
word: rail
word: ride
word: rock and roll
word: roger
word: roll around
word: root
word: screw
word: see someone's etchings
word: sex
word: shag
word: shelve
word: show someone one's etchings
word: slap bellies
word: stick
word: tumble
glosses: To have sexual intercourse with.
topics: blackjack
games
glosses: To stand pat: to cease taking any more cards and finalize one's hand.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: dirt sticks
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: let crazy stick its dick in you
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: let the cobbler stick to his last
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: mud sticks
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: what sticks
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: shit sticks
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick a fork in me, I’m done
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick a fork in something
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick a needle in my eye
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick around
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick a sock in it
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick at
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick at nothing
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick by
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick by one's guns
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick down
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick 'em up
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: sticker
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick fat
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick in one's gizzard
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick in someone's craw
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick in someone's gullet
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick in someone's throat
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick it
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick it out
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick it to
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick it to the man
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick like shit
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick like shit to a blanket
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick on
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick-on
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick one on
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick one's dick in crazy
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick one's foot in it
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick one's foot in one's mouth
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick one's head in the sand
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick one's nose in
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick one's nose into
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick one's tongue out
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick out
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick that in your pipe and smoke it
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick the knife in
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick the landing
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick to
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick to business
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick together
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: sticktoitiveness
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick to one's guns
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick to one's knitting
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick to one's own knitting
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick to one's post
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick to one's ribs
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick to one's text
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick to someone's ribs
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick up
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick up for
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick up to
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: stick with
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: sticky
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: throw enough mud at the wall and some of it will stick
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: throw things at the wall and see what sticks
sense: Terms derived from stick (verb)
word: would lose one's head if it wasn't stuck on
Related terms: stick in one's craw
stick one's neck out
stick one's oar in
stick out like a sore thumb
stick-sling
stick to one's guns
stick-up
stick up for
stuck up