different between stick vs mace

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

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /me?s/
• Rhymes: -e?s

Etymology 1

From Middle English mace, borrowed from Old French mace, mache, from Vulgar Latin *mattia, *mattea (compare Italian mazza, Spanish maza), probably from Latin mateola (“hoe”).

Noun

mace (plural maces)

1. A heavy fighting club.
   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 51.

     The Mace is an ancient weapon, formerly much used by cavalry of all nations, and likewise by ecclesiastics, who in consequence of their tenures, frequently took the field, but were by a canon of the church forbidden to wield the sword.

2. A ceremonial form of this weapon.
3. A long baton used by some drum majors to keep time and lead a marching band. If this baton is referred to as a mace, by convention it has a ceremonial often decorative head, which, if of metal, usually is hollow and sometimes intricately worked.
4. An officer who carries a mace as an emblem of authority.
5. A knobbed mallet used by curriers in dressing leather to make it supple.
6. (archaic) A billiard cue.

Translations

Verb

mace (third-person singular simple present maces, present participle macing, simple past and past participle maced)

1. To hit someone or something with a mace.

See also

• bludgeon
• celt
• twirling baton
• warclub

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Javanese [Term?] and Malay [Term?], meaning "a bean".

Noun

mace (plural maces)

1. An old money of account in China equal to one tenth of a tael.
2. An old weight of 57.98 grains.
   • 1883, Samuel Wells Williams, The Middle Kingdom: A Survey of the Geography, Government, Education, Social Life, Arts, Religion, &c., of the Chinese Empire and Its Inhabitants

     The decimals of the tael, called mace, candareen, and cash (tsien, f?n, and li) , are employed in reckoning bullion.

Etymology 3

From Middle English, from re-interpretation of macis as a plural (as with pea); from Latin macir.

Noun

mace

1. A spice obtained from the outer layer of the kernel of the fruit of the nutmeg.
   • 1610, William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, Act IV, Scene III, line 45.

     I must have saffron to color the warden pies; mace; dates, none -- that's out of my note; nutmegs, seven; a race or two of ginger, but that I may beg; four pounds of prunes, and as many of raisins o' th' sun.

Translations

Etymology 4

From the name of one brand of the spray, Mace. Pepper spray may be derived from cayenne pepper, but not from mace (definition 3 above), which is a different spice.

Noun

mace (plural maces)

1. Tear gas or pepper spray, especially for personal use.

Translations

Verb

mace (third-person singular simple present maces, present participle macing, simple past and past participle maced)

1. To spray in defense or attack with mace (pepper spray or tear gas) using a hand-held device.
2. (informal) To spray a similar noxious chemical in defense or attack using an available hand-held device such as an aerosol spray can.
   • 1989, Carl Hiaasen, Skin Tight, Ballantine Books, New York, chapter 22:

     When Reynaldo and Willie had burst into Larkey's drug store to confront him, the old man had maced Willie square in the eyes with an aerosol can of spermicidal birth-control foam.

References

Anagrams

• ACME, Acme, ECMA, EMAC, acme, came, eMac

Albanian

Alternative forms

• maçe
• mac (eastern Gheg)
• macë

Etymology

Alternative variant of macë (“cat”), ultimately derived from Proto-Slavic *maca, likely an onomatopoeic expression.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mat?s?/ (Standard)
• IPA^(key): /mã?t?s/, /mõ?t?s/ (eastern Gheg)

Noun

máce f (indefinite plural máce, definite singular mácja, definite plural mácet)

1. (zoology) cat
2. (figuratively, derogatory) belligerent, wild woman

Declension

Related terms

• macë f
• mackë f
• maç m
• maçok m

See also

• dac

Further reading

• [1] noun mace/máce (cat) • Fjalor Shqip (Albanian Dictionary)

References

Hausa

Etymology

Derived from m??t? through an adverbial form.

Noun

màc? f (plural m?t?, possessed form màcèn)

1. woman
2. female

Usage notes

The possessed form may be seen as derogatory or ungrammatical by many speakers, and is often replaced by m??tar?, the possessed form of m??t?.

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French mace, from Vulgar Latin *mattia, *mattea, probably from Latin mateola (“hoe”).

Alternative forms

• maas, masse, mase, maiis

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ma?s(?)/

Noun

mace (plural maces)

2. A war club or mace.
3. A club used for ceremonial purposes or as part of regalia.

Related terms

• macer

Descendants

• English: mace
• Scots: mace

References

• “m?ce, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-27.

Etymology 2

Noun

mace

1. Alternative form of masse

Old French

Etymology 1

From Vulgar Latin *mattia, *mattea, itself probably derived from Latin mateola (“hoe”).

Noun

mace f (oblique plural maces, nominative singular mace, nominative plural maces)

1. mace (weapon)

Alternative forms

• mache (Picardy)

Descendants

• French: masse
• ? Middle English: mace, maas, masse, mase, maiis
  • English: mace
  • Scots: mace

Etymology 2

From Latin macir.

Noun

mace f (oblique plural maces, nominative singular mace, nominative plural maces)

1. mace (spice)

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (mace, supplement)
• mace on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

Spanish

Verb

mace

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of mazar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of mazar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of mazar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of mazar.

Taraon

Etymology

Compare Idu ????

Pronunciation

• (Darang Deng) IPA^(key): /m?³¹t?i?³/

Noun

mace

1. water

References

• Roger Blench, Mark Post, (De)classifying Arunachal languages: Reconstructing the evidence (2011) (as macey)
• Jatan Pulu, A Phrase Book on Taraon Language (1991) (as mace or in running text often mac?)
• Huang Bufan (editor), Xu Shouchun, Chen Jiaying, Wan Huiyin, A Tibeto-Burman Lexicon (1992; Central Minorities University, Beijing)