stub¹

[stuhb] /stʌb/

noun

a short projecting part.

a short remaining piece, as of a pencil, candle, or cigar.

(in a checkbook, receipt book, etc.) the inner end of each leaf, for keeping a record of the content of the part filled out and torn away.

the returned portion of a ticket.

the end of a fallen tree, shrub, or plant left fixed in the ground; stump.

something having a short, blunt shape, especially a short-pointed, blunt pen.

stub nail.

something having the look of incomplete or stunted growth, as a horn of an animal.

Bridge. a part-score.

verb (used with object), stubbed, stubbing.

10.

to strike accidentally against a projecting object:

I stubbed my toe against the step.

11.

to extinguish the burning end of (a cigarette or cigar) by crushing it against a solid object (often followed by out):

He stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray.

12.

to clear of stubs, as land.

13.

to dig up by the roots; grub up (roots).

Origin

before 1000; (noun) Middle English stubb(e), Old English stubb tree stump; cognate with Middle Low German, Middle Dutch stubbe, Old Norse stubbi; akin to Old Norse stūfr stump; (v.) late Middle English stubben to dig up by the roots, clear stumps from (land), derivative of the noun

Related forms

stubber, noun

stub²

[stuhb] /stʌb/

adjective

stocky; squat.

Origin

1705-15; special use of stub¹

Examples from the web for stub

My cats would eat it to the stub if they had a chance.
The three friends were out to dinner a few months ago in the umpteenth restaurant that asked them to stub out their cigars.
She gets up and leans over to stub her cigarette on the ground.
On the table was a newspaper folded open at the crossword, and a stub of pencil.
By the feeble light of a candle stub, the newcomers can make out hair falling over someone's eyes.
The device's small display also has a flower that grows taller when you're active and shrinks to a stub when you're not.
The heaters would remove the necessity of the stub-ins, which could then be capped.
Came here to point out the irony of her statement based on the stub that showed up originally in my feed reader.
The quote is then remade at a lower price and followed with another stub quote.
Ed was a chain-smoker who'd take two or three puffs, stub the cigarette out, and light the next one.

British Dictionary definitions for stub

stub

/stʌb/

noun

a short piece remaining after something has been cut, removed, etc: a cigar stub

the residual piece or section of a receipt, ticket, cheque, etc

(US & Canadian) the part of a cheque, postal order, receipt, etc, detached and retained as a record of the transaction Also called (in Britain) counterfoil

any short projection or blunted end

the stump of a tree or plant

verb (transitive) stubs, stubbing, stubbed

to strike (one's toe, foot, etc) painfully against a hard surface

(usually foll by out) to extinguish (a cigarette or cigar) by pressing the end against a surface

to clear (land) of stubs

to dig up (the roots) of (a tree or bush)

Word Origin

Old English stubb; related to Old Norse stubbi, Middle Dutch stubbe, Greek stupos stem, stump

Contemporary definitions for stub

noun

a Web page providing only minimal information and intended for later development

Examples

A stub is a placeholder to which other contributors may build upon, as in Wikipedia.

Word Origin and History for stub

Old English stybb "stump of a tree," from Proto-Germanic *stubjaz (cf. Middle Dutch stubbe, Old Norse stubbr), from PIE root *(s)teu- (see steep (adj.)). Extended in Middle English to other short, thick things. The verb sense of "strike (one's toe) against" something is first recorded 1848. Meaning "to extinguish a cigarette" is from 1927. Related: Stubbed; stubbing.

stub in Technology

1. A dummy procedure used when linking a program with a run-time library. The stub routine need not contain any code and is only present to prevent "undefined label" errors at link time.
2. A local procedure in a remote procedure call. The client calls the stub to perform some task and need not necessarily be aware that RPC is involved. The stub transmits parameters over the network to the server and returns the results to the caller.
(1995-11-09)