stick1

noun

• 1a thin piece of wood that has fallen or been cut from a tree.

• 2a thin piece of wood that has been trimmed for a particular purpose, in particular.
• a long piece of wood used for support in walking or as a weapon with which to hit someone or something.
• (in hockey, polo, and other games) a long implement, typically made of wood, with a head or blade of varying form that is used to hit or direct the ball or puck.
• [usually with modifier] a short piece of wood used to impale food:Popsicle sticks
• a piece of basic furniture:every stick of furniture just vanished
• (sticks) (in field hockey) the foul play of raising the stick above the shoulder.
• Nautical, archaic a mast or spar.
• (the sticks) British informal goalposts.

• 3something resembling or likened to a stick, in particular.
• a long, thin piece of something:a stick of dynamite cinnamon sticks
• a quarter-pound rectangular block of butter or margarine.
• a conductor’s baton.
• a gear or control lever.
• (in extended and metaphorical use) a very thin person or limb:the girl was a stick her arms were like sticks
• a number of bombs or paratroopers dropped rapidly from an aircraft.
• a small group of soldiers assigned to a particular duty:a stick of heavily armed guards
• informal a marijuana cigarette.

• 4a threat of punishment or unwelcome measures (often contrasted with the offer of reward as a means of persuasion):training that relies more on the carrot than on the stick
• British informal severe criticism or treatment:I took a lot of stick from the press

• 5 (the sticks) informal derogatory rural areas far from cities:a small, dusty town out in the sticks

• 6 [with adjective] informal dated a person of a specified kind:Janet’s not such a bad old stick sometimes