Link Centre Dictionary

stub

UK/stʌb/ US/stʊb/ uncommon obsolete
noun (5) verb (1)

noun

1.

a short piece remaining on a trunk or stem where a branch is lost

2.

a small piece

  • “a nub of coal”
  • “a stub of a pencil”
Synonyms
3.

a torn part of a ticket returned to the holder as a receipt

Synonyms
4.

the part of a check that is retained as a record

Synonyms
5.

the small unused part of something (especially the end of a cigarette that is left after smoking)

Synonyms

verb

1.

strike against an object

  • “She stubbed her one”
  • “s broken”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English stubbe (“tree stump”), from Old English stybb, stubb (“tree stump”), from Proto-West Germanic *stubb, from Proto-Germanic *stubbaz (compare Middle Dutch stubbe, Old Norse stubbr, Faroese stubbi (“stub”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tew-; compare steep (“sharp slope”). Doublet of stob. Sense extended in Middle English to similarly shaped objects. Verb sense “strike one’s toe” is recorded 1848; “extinguish a cigarette” 1927.

Phrases

  • pay stub
  • pencil stub
  • stub axle
  • stub end
  • stub mortise
  • stub nail
  • stub out
  • stub twist
  • stub-tailed morpho

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.