stick

I

n

1. branch, limb, stem, bough, spray, switch, twig; shoot, sprout, runner, tendril, scion.

2. kindling, fagot, tinder; firewood, brush, brushwood, driftwood.

3. rod, wand, baton, staff, pike, pole; scepter, crosier, crook, standard, caduceus; walking stick, alpenstock, cane, crutch.

4. club, birch, whip, scourge, cat-o'-nine-tails, cat, lash, cowhide, thong; cudgel, truncheon, knout, bludgeon, bastinado, blackjack, billy club, billy, Chiefly Irish Eng. shillelagh, mace.

5. sliver, splinter, shive, fragment; chip, whittling, shaving, flake.

6. on the stick

alert, wide-awake, aware, Inf. heads-up, Inf. on the ball; moving, active, bustling, hustling, on the go, on the move; busy, astir, up and doing, up and about; smart bright, keen, sharp, quick.

7. the sticks

U.S. Informal. rural districts, provinces, backwater, country, countryside, Sl. boondocks, Sl. boonies, Australian. outback; backwoods, hinterlands, back country, woods, bush, Sl. the bushes; no man's land, the middle of nowhere.

II

v

1. pierce, puncture, penetrate, transfix; pass through or into, transpierce, spear, stab, lan-cinate; prick, pink, spike, spit, impale, gore, run through; perforate, punch, honeycomb, riddle; thrust in or into, tunnel, bore, drill, enter.

2. place, set, lay, put, posit; position, plant, locate, situate; drop, plunk, plop.

3. fasten, attach, make adhere, join, unite; glue, agglutinate, paste, cement, size, gum; tape, scotchtape, pin, tack, nail; weld, solder, fuse; coalesce, cohere.

4. confuse, puzzle, bewilder, perplex, nonplus; baffle, mystify, stump, Inf. bamboozle, Inf. buffalo; stun, daze, confound, stupefy.

5. hold, cleave, cling, stay, adhere; adhere to, hold on to, hang on to, clench, clutch, clasp, grip, grasp; comply with, abide by, fulfill; observe, respect, acknowledge; obey, follow, heed, mind.

6. be embedded, be mired, be bogged down; be hindered, be impeded, be checked; be stationary, be stopped.

7. persist, persevere, stand firm, stand fast, be resolute; be unyielding, stick to one's guns, insist, hold one's ground; never say die, not give up the ship, go down fighting, Inf. keep the faith, die trying or in harness or with one's boots on; be tenacious.-hold fast, not take no for an answer, brook no denial.

8.Usu. stick out

extend, project, protrude, jut out, poke out, stand out; bulge, obtrude, excurve; overhang, beetle, hang over, impend; swell out, protuberate, bow, embow; distend, belly, swell, round out, balloon, billow.

9. stick at

scruple, stickle, demur, hesitate; waver, doubt, pause, falter; hang back, draw back, recoil, shrink from or at, balk at.

10. stick byor to

be loyal or faithful or constant; stand by, stay with through thick and thin or through fair times and foul.

11. stick [s.t.] out

endure, put up with, see through, see through to the end, stay until the last gun is fired; take it, brave it out, Inf. tough it out, Inf. hang in or hang in there, Sl. sweat it out.

12. stick up for

defend, go to bat for, speak in behalf of or up for, stand up for, fight for, take up the cudgels for; guard, protect, safeguard, screen, shield; support, bolster, sustain.