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. i. To walk clumsily, as
if on stumps.
To stump up, to pay cash. [Prov. Eng.]
Halliwell.
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.]