different between jab vs stick

English

Etymology

Originally a Scottish (unclear if Scots or Scottish English) form of English job (“peck, poke, thrust”), from Middle English jobben.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?æb/
• Rhymes: -æb

Noun

jab (plural jabs)

1. A quick stab or blow; a poking or thrusting motion.
   • 1952, Bernard Malamud, The Natural, Chapter 9,

     He tore in for the ball, make a running jab for it and held it.

2. (boxing) A short straight punch.
3. (Britain) A medical hypodermic injection (vaccination or inoculation)

   Our dog was exposed to rabies, so the whole family went to a clinic to get our jabs.

4. (Britain, Australia) A vaccination, whether or not delivered via conventional injection.
5. (US, figuratively) A mild verbal insult.

Derived terms

• jabby

Translations

Verb

jab (third-person singular simple present jabs, present participle jabbing, simple past and past participle jabbed)

1. To poke or thrust abruptly, or to make such a motion.
2. To deliver a quick punch.
3. (slang, Britain) To give someone an injection

Translations

References

Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “jab”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Irish

Etymology

Borrowed from English job.

Noun

jab m (genitive singular jab, nominative plural jabanna)

1. job, piece of work
2. post, employment

Declension

Derived terms

• jabaire m (“(cattle-)jobber”)

References

• "jab" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English jab.

Noun

jab m (invariable)

1. jab (boxing punch)

Spanish

Noun

jab m (plural jabs)

1. (boxing) jab

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: st?k, IPA^(key): /st?k/
• Homophone: stich
• Rhymes: -?k

Etymology 1

From Middle English stikke (“stick, rod, twig”), from Old English sticca (“rod, twig”), from Proto-Germanic *stikkô, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Stikke (“stick”), West Flemish stik (“stick”).

Noun

stick (countable and uncountable, plural sticks)

1. An elongated piece of wood or similar material, typically put to some use, for example as a wand or baton.
   1. A small, thin branch from a tree or bush; a twig; a branch.

      Synonyms: branch, twig, (dialectal) rice, kindling, (uncountable) brush
   2. A relatively long, thin piece of wood, of any size.
   3. (US) A timber board, especially a two by four (inches).

      Synonym: two by four

   4. A cane or walking stick (usually wooden, metal or plastic) to aid in walking.

      Synonyms: cane, walking stick
   5. A cudgel or truncheon (usually of wood, metal or plastic), especially one carried by police or guards.

   6. (carpentry) The vertical member of a cope-and-stick joint.
   8. (nautical) A mast or part of a mast of a ship; also, a yard.
   9. (figuratively) A piece (of furniture, especially if wooden).

      Synonyms: piece, item
2. Any roughly cylindrical (or rectangular) unit of a substance.
   1. (chiefly Canada, US) A small rectangular block, with a length several times its width, which contains by volume one half of a cup of shortening (butter, margarine or lard).

   2. A standard rectangular strip of chewing gum.

   3. (slang) A cigarette (usually a tobacco cigarette, less often a marijuana cigarette).

      Synonyms: joint, reefer

3. Material or objects attached to a stick or the like.
   1. A bunch of something wrapped around or attached to a stick.

   2. (archaic) A scroll that is rolled around (mounted on, attached to) a stick.
   3. (military) The structure to which a set of bombs in a bomber aircraft are attached and which drops the bombs when it is released. The bombs themselves and, by extension, any load of similar items dropped in quick succession such as paratroopers or containers.

      Synonym: train
4. A tool, control, or instrument shaped somewhat like a stick.
   1. (US, colloquial) A manual transmission, a vehicle equipped with a manual transmission, so called because of the stick-like, i.e. twig-like, control (the gear shift) with which the driver of such a vehicle controls its transmission.

      Synonyms: stickshift, gearstick

      1. (US, colloquial, uncountable) Vehicles, collectively, equipped with manual transmissions.

   2. (aviation) The control column of an aircraft; a joystick. (By convention, a wheel-like control mechanism with a handgrip on opposite sides, similar to the steering wheel of an automobile, can also be called the "stick", although "yoke" or "control wheel" is more commonly seen.)
   3. (aviation, uncountable) Use of the stick to control the aircraft.
   4. (computing) A memory stick.
   5. (slang) A handgun.
      • Dropkick Murphys, Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya (song)

        A stick in the hand, a drop in the eye

   6. (dated, letterpress typography) A composing stick, the tool used by compositors to assemble lines of type.
   7. (jazz, slang) The clarinet.

      Synonyms: licorice stick, liquorice stick
5. (sports) A stick-like item:
   1. (sports, generically) A long thin implement used to control a ball or puck in sports like hockey, polo, and lacrosse.

   2. (horse racing) The short whip carried by a jockey.
   3. (boardsports) A board as used in board sports, such as a surfboard, snowboard, or skateboard.
   4. (golf) The pole bearing a small flag that marks the hole.

      Synonyms: pin, flagstick

   5. (US, slang, uncountable) The cue used in billiards, pool, snooker, etc.
      1. The game of pool, or an individual pool game.
6. (sports, uncountable) Ability; specifically:
   1. (golf) The long-range driving ability of a golf club.
   2. (baseball) The potential hitting power of a specific bat.
   3. (baseball) General hitting ability.
   4. (field hockey or ice hockey) The potential accuracy of a hockey stick, implicating also the player using it.
7. (slang, dated) A person or group of people. (Perhaps, in some senses, because people are, broadly speaking, tall and thin, like pieces of wood.)
   1. A thin or wiry person; particularly a flat-chested woman.
   2. (magic) An assistant planted in the audience.

      Synonyms: plant, shill
   3. A stiff, stupidly obstinate person.
   4. (military aviation, from joystick) A fighter pilot.
   5. (military, South Africa) A small group of (infantry) soldiers.
8. Encouragement or punishment, or (resulting) vigour or other improved behavior.
   1. A negative stimulus or a punishment. (This sense derives from the metaphor of using a stick, a long piece of wood, to poke or beat a beast of burden to compel it to move forward. Compare carrot.)
   2. (slang, uncountable) Corporal punishment; beatings.
   3. (slang) Vigor; spirit; effort, energy, intensity.

      = he threw himself into the task of digging

      = she berated him (this sense melts into the previous sense, "punishment")
   4. (slang) Vigorous driving of a car; gas.
9. A measure.
   1. (obsolete) An English Imperial unit of length equal to 2 inches.
   2. (archaic, rare) A quantity of eels, usually 25.

      Synonyms: stich, broach

Usage notes

• (furniture): Generally used in the negative, or in contexts expressive of poverty or lack.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:stick

Derived terms

Note: Terms derived from the verb are found further below.

Translations

Verb

stick (third-person singular simple present sticks, present participle sticking, simple past and past participle sticked)

1. (carpentry) To cut a piece of wood to be the stick member of a cope-and-stick joint.
2. (transitive, printing, slang, dated) To compose; to set, or arrange, in a composing stick.

   to stick type

3. (transitive) To furnish or set with sticks.

Etymology 2

From Middle English stiken (“to stick, pierce, stab, remain embedded, be fastened”), from Old English stician (“to pierce, stab, remain embedded, be fastened”), from Proto-Germanic *stik?n? (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”) (compare also the related Proto-Germanic *stikan?, whence West Frisian stekke, Low German steken, Dutch steken, German stechen; compare also Danish stikke, Swedish sticka), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tig-, *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”).

Cognate with the first etymology (same PIE root, different paths through Germanic and Old English), to stitch, and to etiquette, via French étiquette – see there for further discussion.

Noun

stick (uncountable)

1. (motor racing) The traction of tires on the road surface.
2. (fishing) The amount of fishing line resting on the water surface before a cast; line stick.
3. A thrust with a pointed instrument; a stab.

Verb

stick (third-person singular simple present sticks, present participle sticking, simple past and past participle stuck or (archaic) sticked)

1. (intransitive) To become or remain attached; to adhere.

2. (intransitive) To jam; to stop moving.

3. (transitive) To tolerate, to endure, to stick with.
4. (intransitive) To persist.
5. (intransitive) Of snow, to remain frozen on landing.
6. (intransitive) To remain loyal; to remain firm.

7. (dated, intransitive) To hesitate, to be reluctant; to refuse (in negative phrases).
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 10,^[2]

     For thou art so possess’d with murderous hate

     That ’gainst thyself thou stick’st not to conspire.

   • 1712, John Arbuthnot, Law is a Bottomless Pit, London: John Morphew, Chapter 1,^[3]

     Some stick not to say, that the Parson and Attorney forg’d a Will, for which they were well Paid […]

   • 1716, Thomas Browne, Christian Morals, 2nd edition edited by Samuel Johnson, London: J. Payne, 1756, Part I, p. 12,^[4]

     Though a cup of cold water from some hand may not be without its reward, yet stick not thou for wine and oil for the wounds of the distressed […]

   • 1740, James Blair, Our Saviour's divine sermon on the mount [...] explained, volume 3, page 26:

     And so careful were they to put off the Honour of great Actions from themselves, and to centre it upon God, that they stuck not sometimes to depreciate themselves that they might more effectually honour him.

   • 1742, Samuel Richardson, Pamela, Volume 3, Letter 37, p. 375,^[5]

     For he that sticks not at one bad Action, will not scruple another to vindicate himself: And so, Devil-like, become the Tempter, and the Accuser too!

   • 1743, Thomas Stackhouse, A Compleat Body of Speculative and Practical Divinity, edition 3 (London), page 524:

     The First-fruits were a common Oblation to their Deities; but the chief Part of their Worship consisted in sacrificiing Animals : And this they did out of a real Persuasion, that their Gods were pleased with their Blood, and were nourished with the Smoke, and Nidor of them; and therefore the more costly, they thought them the more acceptable, for which Reason, they stuck not sometimes to regale them with human Sacrifices.

8. (dated, intransitive) To be puzzled (at something), have difficulty understanding.
   • 1706, John Locke, Of the Conduct of the Understanding, Cambridge: J. Nicholson, 1781, pp. 48-49,^[6]

     He that has to do with young scholars, especially in mathematics, may perceive how their minds open by degrees, and how it is exercise alone that opens them. Sometimes they will stick a long time at a part of a demonstration, not for want of perceiving the connection of two ideas; that, to one whose understanding is more exercised, is as visible as any thing can be.

9. (dated, intransitive) To cause difficulties, scruples, or hesitation.
   • 1708, Jonathan Swift, The Sentiments of a Church-of-England-Man, with respect to Religion and Government, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, 7th edition, Edinburgh: G. Hamilton et al., 1752, Volume I, Miscellanies in Prose, p. 73,^[7]

     […] this is the Difficulty that seemeth chiefly to stick with the most reasonable of those, who, from a mere Scruple of Conscience, refuse to join with us upon the Revolution Principle […] .

10. (transitive) To attach with glue or as if by gluing.

11. (transitive) To place, set down (quickly or carelessly).
12. (transitive) To press (something with a sharp point) into something else.

    to stick a needle into one's finger

    • The points of spears are stuck within the shield.

    1. (transitive, now only in dialects) To stab.
       • circa 1583, John Jewel, in a sermon republished in 1847 in The Works of John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, portion 2, page 969:

         In certain of their sacrifices they had a lamb, they sticked him, they killed him, and made sacrifice of him: this lamb was Christ the Son of God, he was killed, sticked, and made a sweet-smelling sacrifice for our sins.

       • 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act III Scene 1

         Thou stickest a dagger in me: I shall never see my gold again: fourscore ducats at a sitting! fourscore ducats!

       • 1809, Grafton's chronicle, or history of England, volume 2, page 135:

         […] would haue [=have] sticked him with a dagger […]

       • 1908, The Northeastern Reporter, volume 85, page 693:

         The defendant said he didn't shoot; "he sticked him with a knife."

13. (transitive) To fix on a pointed instrument; to impale.

    to stick an apple on a fork

14. (transitive, archaic) To adorn or deck with things fastened on as by piercing.
15. (transitive, gymnastics) To perform (a landing) perfectly.

16. (botany, transitive) To propagate plants by cuttings.

17. (transitive, joinery) To run or plane (mouldings) in a machine, in contradistinction to working them by hand. Such mouldings are said to be stuck.
18. (dated, transitive) To bring to a halt; to stymie; to puzzle.

    to stick somebody with a hard problem

19. (transitive, slang, dated) To impose upon; to compel to pay; sometimes, to cheat.
20. (intransitive, US, slang) To have sexual intercourse with.
21. (intransitive, blackjack, chiefly Britain) To stand pat: to cease taking any more cards and finalize one's hand.

Usage notes

In Early Modern English, the past participles stucken and sticken are occasionally found; they are not known in the modern language, even as archaisms.

Synonyms

• (to adhere): cleave, cling; see also Thesaurus:adhere
• (to stop moving): jam, stall; see also Thesaurus:stop
• (to tolerate): live with, put up with; See also Thesaurus:tolerate
• (persist): abide, carry on; see also Thesaurus:persevere
• (to remain loyal): stand by, stick by
• (to hesitate): falter, waver; see also Thesaurus:hesitate
• (to be puzzled at): puzzle
• (to attach with glue): agglutinate, conglutinate, glue, gum, paste
• (to place): pop, set down
• (to press into with a sharp point): pierce, prick, puncture
• (to fix on a pointed instrument): fix, impale, stake, run through, transfix
• (to bring to a halt): stump, thwart
• (to have sexual intercourse): have sex; see also Thesaurus:copulate

Derived terms

Note: Terms derived from the noun are found above.

Translations

See also

Adjective

stick (comparative sticker, superlative stickest)

1. (informal) Likely to stick; sticking, sticky.

   A non-stick pan. A stick plaster.

   A sticker type of glue. The stickest kind of gum.

Usage notes

• The adjective is more informal than nonstandard due to the prevalence of examples such as "non-stick pan" or "stick plaster".
• The comparative and superlative remain nonstandard (vs. stickier and stickiest) and are sometimes seen inbetween quotation marks to reflect it.

Derived terms

Etymology 3

Possibly a metaphorical use of the first etymology ("twig, branch"), possibly derived from the Yiddish schtick.

Noun

stick (plural sticks)

1. (Britain, uncountable) Criticism or ridicule.

Anagrams

• ticks

Chinook Jargon

Etymology

Borrowed from English stick.

Noun

stick

1. stick
2. wood, firewood
3. tree, forest

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed shortenings from several English compounds, in all cases equivalent to a borrowing from English stick.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?k/
• Hyphenation: stick
• Rhymes: -?k

Noun

stick m (plural sticks, diminutive stickje n)

1. A hockey stick.
2. A joystick, stick-shaped control device.
3. A memory stick to store IT data.

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Verb

stick

1. singular imperative of sticken
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of sticken

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

stick n

1. a sting; a bite from an insect
2. (card games) a trick

Declension

Descendants

• ? Finnish: tikki

Verb

stick

1. imperative of sticka.

Anagrams

• ticks