Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Stump?

\Stump\, n. [OE. stumpe, stompe; akin to D. stomp, G. stumpf, Icel. stumpr, Dan. & Sw. stump, and perhaps also to E. stamp.] 1. The part of a tree or plant remaining in the earth after the stem or trunk is cut off; the stub. 2. The part of a limb or other body remaining after a part is amputated or destroyed; a fixed or rooted remnant; a stub; as, the stump of a leg, a finger, a tooth, or a broom. 3. pl. The legs; as, to stir one's stumps. [Slang] 4. (Cricket) One of the three pointed rods stuck in the ground to form a wicket and support the bails. 5. A short, thick roll of leather or paper, cut to a point, or any similar implement, used to rub down the lines of a crayon or pencil drawing, in shading it, or for shading drawings by producing tints and gradations from crayon, etc., in powder. 6. 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 fence; also, a pin or projection in a lock to form a guide for a movable piece. {Leg stump} (Cricket), the stump nearest to the batsman. {Off stump} (Cricket), the stump farthest from the batsman. {Stump tracery} (Arch.), a term used to describe late German Gothic tracery, in which the molded bar seems to pass through itself in its convolutions, and is then cut off short, so that a section of the molding is seen at the end of each similar stump. {To go on the stump}, or {To take the stump}, to engage in making public addresses for electioneering purposes; -- a phrase derived from the practice of using a stump for a speaker's platform in newly-settled districts. Hence also the phrases stump orator, stump speaker, stump speech, stump oratory, etc. [Colloq. U.S.]
\Stump\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Stumped}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Stumping}.] 1. To cut off a part of; to reduce to a stump; to lop. Around the stumped top soft moss did grow. --Dr. H. More. 2. To strike, as the toes, against a stone or something fixed; to stub. [Colloq.] 3. To challenge; also, to nonplus. [Colloq.] 4. To travel over, delivering speeches for electioneering purposes; as, to stump a State, or a district. See {To go on the stump}, under {Stump}, n. [Colloq. U.S.] 5. (Cricket) (a) To put (a batsman) out of play by knocking off the bail, or knocking down the stumps of the wicket he is defending while he is off his allotted ground; -- sometimes with out. --T. Hughes. (b) To bowl down the stumps of, as, of a wicket. A herd of boys with clamor bowled, And stumped the wicket. --Tennyson. {To stump it}. (a) To go afoot; hence, to run away; to escape. [Slang] --Ld. Lytton. (b) To make electioneering speeches. [Colloq. U.S.]
\Stump\, v. i. To walk clumsily, as if on stumps. {To stump up}, to pay cash. [Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell.