1872. Figaro, 30 Nov. Greeley's too great a roarer, and depended too much on the stump.
1884. Phillipps-Wolley, Trottings of a Tenderfoot. If a constitution was to grow up strong, it didn't want forcing with a lot of stump-spouter's rubbish, and so on, and so on.
1884. Punch, 11 Oct. Fancy, old chump, Me doing the sawdusty reglar, and follering swells on the stump.
Stump and rump, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Completely: cf. Stock and Block; Root and Branch; Stick and Stone, etc.
Stumper, subs. (Tonbridge
School).—1. Small cricket:
played with a stump. At
Harrow stumps.
2. (colloquial).—A wicket-keeper.
3. (common).—Anything that bowls out; a corker (q.v.): see Whopper.
See Stump.
Stump-of-the-gutter, subs. phr.
(old).—See quot. with an eye on
stumpy = short, squat, dumpy.
1764. O'Hara, Midas, i. 5. You stump-o'-the-gutter, you hop-o'-my-thumb, A husband must for you from Liliput come.
Stump-tail Currency, subs. phr.
(American).—Currency issued by
certain banks of doubtful credit
prior to the Civil War (Bartlett).
Stun, verb. (thieves').—To cheat;
to do (q.v.). To stun out of
the regulars = to swindle a
man of his share of booty.
Stunlaw, subs. (back slang).—Walnuts.
Stunner, subs. (colloquial).—Generic
for astonishment: see
Whopper. Stunning = amazing,
strikingly large, good, etc.;
to put the stunners on = to
perplex, confound, astonish.
1848. Thackeray, Snobs, xxv. For the performance of 'Gettin' up Stairs,' I have no other name but that it was a stunner.
1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i. 471. He wears a stunning fawny on his ringer.
1853. Bradley, Verdant Green. You get on stunningly, Giglamps.
1857. Whitty, Fr. Bohemia. 193. 'He had seen her at the Crystal Palace? and she was sure he had applauded—so kind!' 'Why—yes,' said Jack . . . 'I think you are a stunner.'
1863. Ouida, Held in Bondage, 1. 245. The girl is stunning, the blokes say.
1874. Siliad, 102. 'Golden Nell,' the idol of the West, the peerless belle . . . she is a stunner.
1877. Boston Jo., 19 May. This is a stunner,—a sockdolager, so to speak.
1890. Boldrewood, Squatter's Dream, 29. She's a smart gin when she's away from grog, and a stunner at cutting out on a camp.
1900. Free Lance, 6 Oct., 16. 1. Lady Dashout. 'Those short skirts . . . must be simply delightful to walk in.' Lady Jack. 'They're perfectly stunning.'
Stupid (or Stupe), subs. (colloquial).—A
blockhead: see
Buffle.
1762. Bickerstaff, Love in a Village, ii. 2. Was ever such a poor stupe?
1860. Eliot, Mill on the Floss, i. 9. Tom . . . inconsiderately laughed . . . and told her she was a stupid.
Sturdy-beggar, subs. phr. (Old
Cant).—'The fifth and last of
the most ancient Order of
Canters' (B. E.); 'beggars that
rather demand than ask' (Grose).
