10. (nautical).—A mast: e.g., 'She has handsome sticks' = 'She is finely sparred.'
11. (colloquial).—Hesitation; demur. Hence to stick at = to boggle (q.v.).
1678. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, vi. When he came to the Hill Difficulty he made no stick at that.
The stick, subs. phr. (venery).—A venereal disease: clap, shanker, or pox; ladies' fever (q.v.).
Verb. (venery).—To copulate: see Greens and Ride.
2. (colloquial).—To kill: spec. (India) to spear wild hogs.
Phrases and Colloquialisms are numerous. Thus to be stuck on the deal = to pay too much, to be swindled; to stick on the price = to overcharge; to stick for drinks = to win the toss; to stick it up = to get credit; to stick up (a bank, a train, a caravan) = to rob; to be stuck on one's lines (theatrical) = to forget; to stick up tricks (points, runs, goals, &c.) = to score; to stick up = to take one's own part, or another's; to stick in a pin = to make a note of, to take heed; to stick to = to stand by; to stick at = to be scrupulous; to stick at nothing = to be utterly without scruple; to stick in one's stomach (or gizzard) = to rankle; to stick to = to back through thick and thin, to follow closely; to stick one's spoon in the wall = to die; to cut one's sticks = to decamp; to have the fiddle but not the stick = to have the means without sense to use them; to go to sticks and staves (or noggin staves) = to go to ruin; to beat all to sticks = to vanquish utterly; to stick a point = to settle a matter; to stick in (cricket) = to play carefully, so as to keep up the wicket; to stick oneself up = to assert oneself, to spread out (q.v.); to stick to one's fingers = to remain in possession unlawfully; to stick out for = to contend obstinately; to stick and lift = to live from hand to mouth. Also stuck on one's shape = pleased with one's appearance; stuck in the mud = cornered (q.v.); stuck for the ready = penniless; stuck by one's pal = deceived, deserted, done (q.v.); stuck in one's figures (facts, or calculations) = mistaken, at a loss; dead stuck = completely disappointed, flabbergasted, or ruined; stuck on a jude = enamoured; stuck up = conceited, proud. Also as cross as two sticks = fully angered; stick-and-stone = everything: cf. root and branch, stock and block; in quick sticks (or chisel) = instantly; wrong end of the stick = (1) the worst of a position; and (2) the false of a story. 'Any stick (or staff) suffices to beat the dog' (Ray).
1337. Brunne, Handlyng Synne (Hearne), 113. [Castles] are won ilka stik.
1448-60. Paston Letters, 462. Every stone and stikke thereof.
1544. Exped. in Scotland [Arber, Eng. Garner, i. 120]. We brake down the pier of the haven of Perth, and burnt every stick of it.
1564. Udal, Erasmus's Apoph., 215. So in fine were thei beaten doune, their citee taken, spoiled, and destroyed bothe sticke and stone.
1569. Marriage of Wit and Science [Dodsley, Old Plays (Hazlitt), ii. 342]. I know a younker that will ease you . . . That will not stick to marry you within this hour.
