Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

stub

Pronunciation: /stʌb/

Translate stub | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of stub

noun

  • 1the truncated remnant of a pencil, cigarette, or similar-shaped object after use: the ashtray was full of stubs a pencil stub the stub of a candle
  • a truncated or unusually short thing:he wagged his little stub of tail
  • [as modifier] denoting a projection or hole that goes only part of the way through a surface:a stub tenon
  • 2the counterfoil of a cheque, receipt, ticket, or other document: retain your ticket stubs he drew out his chequebook and checked the stubs

verb (stubs, stubbing, stubbed)

[with object]
  • 1accidentally strike (one’s toe) against something:I stubbed my toe, swore, and tripped
  • 2extinguish (a lighted cigarette) by pressing the lighted end against something:she stubbed out her cigarette in the overflowing ashtray
  • 3grub up (a plant) by the roots:he was found to have stubbed up a hedge

Origin:

Old English stub(b) 'stump of a tree', of Germanic origin. The verb is first recorded (late Middle English) in sense 3; stub (sense 1 of the verb) (mid 19th century) was originally a US usage

stub in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of stub in the US English dictionary