STUMP

stump. Stump, n. a block, the remaining part of a joint

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Stump (?), n. [[OE. stumpe, stompe; akin to D. stomp, G. stumpf, Icel. stumpr, Dan. & Sw. stump, and perhaps also to E. stamp.]] 1. 1. The part of a tree or plant remaining in the earth after the stem or trunk is cut off; the stub.
2. 2. The part of a limb or other body remaining after a part is amputated or destroyed; a fixed or rooted remnant; a stub; as, the stump of a leg, a finger, a tooth, or a broom.
3. 3. pl. The legs; as, to stir one's stumps.
4. 4. (Cricket) One of the three pointed rods stuck in the ground to form a wicket and support the bails.
5. 5. A short, thick roll of leather or paper, cut to a point, or any similar implement, used to rub down the lines of a crayon or pencil drawing, in shading it, or for shading drawings by producing tints and gradations from crayon, etc., in powder.
6. 6. A pin in a tumbler lock which forms an obstruction to throwing the bolt, except when the gates of the tumblers are properly arranged, as by the key; a fence; also, a pin or projection in a lock to form a guide for a movable piece.
Leg stump (Cricket), the stump nearest to the batsman. — Off stump (Cricket), the stump farthest from the batsman. — Stump tracery (Arch.), a term used to describe late German Gothic tracery, in which the molded bar seems to pass through itself in its convolutions, and is then cut off short, so that a section of the molding is seen at the end of each similar stump. — To go on the stump, or To take the stump, to engage in making public addresses for electioneering purposes; — a phrase derived from the practice of using a stump for a speaker's platform in newly-settled districts. Hence also the phrases stump orator, stump speaker, stump speech, stump oratory, etc.