stump

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The part of a tree trunk left protruding from the ground after the tree has fallen or has been felled.
2. n. A part, as of a branch, limb, or tooth, remaining after the main part has been cut away, broken off, or worn down.
3. n. Informal The legs.
4. n. An artificial leg.
5. n. A short, thickset person.
6. n. A heavy footfall.
7. n. A place or an occasion used for political or campaign oratory: candidates out on the stump.
8. n. A short, pointed roll of leather or paper or wad of rubber for rubbing on a charcoal or pencil drawing to shade or soften it.
9. n. Sports Any of the three upright sticks in a cricket wicket.
10. v. To reduce to a stump.
11. v. To clear stumps from: stump a field.
12. v. To stub (a toe or foot).
13. v. To walk over heavily or clumsily.
14. v. To traverse (a district or region) making political speeches.
15. v. To shade (a drawing) with a stump.
16. v. To challenge (someone); dare.
17. v. To cause to be at a loss; baffle: stumped the teacher with a question.
18. v. To walk heavily or clumsily.
19. v. To go about making political speeches.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The truncated lower end of a tree or large shrub; the part of a vegetable trunk or stem of some size left rooted in the ground when the main part falls or is cut down; after eradication, the stub with the attached roots; used absolutely, the stub of a tree: as, the stump of an oak; cabbage-stumps; to clear a field of stumps.
2. n. A truncated part of anything extended in length; that part which remains after the main or more important part has been removed; a stub: as, the stump of a limb; the stump of a tooth; a cigar-stump.
3. n. plural Legs: as, to stir one's stumps.
4. n. A post.
5. n. One of the three posts constituting a wicket in the game of cricket. They are called respectively the leg-stump (next to which the batsman stands), middle stump, and off-stump. Their lower ends are pointed so as to be easily driven into the ground; the height at which they stand when fixed is 27 inches, and the width of the three, including the space between them, 8 inches. The top of each stump is grooved, and in the grooves the two small pieces of wood called bails, each 4 inches long, are laid from stump to stump.
6. n. A rubbing instrument used for toning the lights and shades of crayon- or charcoal-drawings, and sometimes for softening or broadening the lines of pencil-drawings and for applying solid tints with powdered colors. It is a short thick roll of paper or soft leather, or a bar of india-rubber, pointed at both ends.
7. n. In a lock, a projection on which a dog, fence, or tumbler rests. Sometimes it is introduced to prevent the improper retraction of the bolt, and sometimes to guide a moving part.
8. n. A place or an occasion of popular political oratory; a political rostrum or platform; hence, partizan public speaking; popular advocacy of a cause: as, to take the stump, or go on the stump, for a candidate. This meaning of the word arose from the frequent early use in the United States of a tree-stump as a rostrum in open-air political meetings. It does not necessarily convey a derogatory implication.
9. n. In coal-mining, a small pillar of coal left between the gangway or airway and the breasts to protect these passages; any small pillar.
10. n. A blunted sound; a sound which seems to be suddenly cut off or stopped: a thud.
11. n. A challenge or defiance to do something considered impracticable, very difficult, or very daring—that is, something to stump the person attempting it.
12. n. In entomology, a very short vein or nervure of the wing, arising from another vein, and suddenly ending without emitting branches.
13. n. Of worms, a foot-stump. See parapodium, 1.
14. Stumped; stumpy; truncated; like a stump or stub: as, a dog with a stump tail.
15. Of or pertaining to the stump in the political sense: as, a stump speech or speaker; stump eloquence.
16. To truncate; lop; reduce to a stump.
17. To strike unexpectedly and sharply, as the foot or toes, against something fixed; stub: as, to stump one's toe against a stone.
18. To bring to a halt by obstacle or impediment; block the course of; stall; foil: of American origin, from the obstruction to vehicles offered by stumps left in a cleared tract without a road.
19. Hence To challenge or dare to do something difficult, dangerous, or adventurous.
20. To make stump speeches in or to; canvass or address with stump oratory: as, to stump a county or a constituency.
21. In cricket: To knock down a stump or the stumps of.
22. To put (a batsman) out by knocking down his wicket with the ball when, in an attempt to hit the ball, he has gone off the ground allotted to him: sometimes with out: as, he was stumped, or stumped out.
23. Hence To defeat; impoverish; ruin.
24. To pay on the spot; plank down; hand over: generally with up.
25. In art, to use a stump upon; tone or modify by the application of a stump: as, to stump a crayon-or charcoal-drawing.
26. In hat-making. to stretch out (a felted wool hat) after the operation of washing, and prior to drying.
27. To walk stiffly, heavily, or noisily, as if on stumps or wooden legs.
28. To make stump speeches; conduct electioneering by public speaking; make harangues from the stump. See stump, n., 8.
29. To travel about making stump speeches.
30. n. In a hinge which it is desired should fold in one direction only, the projecting lug on one half which engages with the face of the other and precludes the undesired motion.
31. n. The local name given to the tower of St. Botolph's Church, Boston, England. It is in perpendicular Gothic style, 288 feet high, and slightly resembles the tower of Antwerp Cathedral.

Wiktionary

1. n. The remains of something that has been cut off; especially the remains of a tree, the remains of a limb.
2. n. politics The place where a campaign takes place.
3. n. politics An occasion at which the campaign takes place.
4. n. cricket One of three small wooden posts which together with the bails make the wicket and that the fielding team attempt to hit with the ball.
5. n. drawing An artists’ drawing tool made of rolled paper used to smudge or blend marks made with charcoal, Conté crayon, pencil or other drawing media.
6. n. A wooden or concrete pole used to support a house.
7. v. transitive to stop, confuse, or puzzle
8. v. intransitive to baffle; to be unable to find an answer to a question or problem.
9. v. intransitive to campaign
10. v. transitive, cricket to get a batsman out stumped
11. v. intransitive to walk heavily or clumsily, plod, trudge

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The part of a tree or plant remaining in the earth after the stem or trunk is cut off; the stub.
2. n. The part of a limb or other body remaining after a part is amputated or destroyed; a fixed or rooted remnant; a stub.
3. n. Slang The legs.
4. n. (Cricket) One of the three pointed rods stuck in the ground to form a wicket and support the bails.
5. n. 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. n. 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.
7. v. To cut off a part of; to reduce to a stump; to lop.
8. v. colloq. To strike, as the toes, against a stone or something fixed; to stub.
9. v. colloq. To challenge; also, to nonplus.
10. v. Colloq. U.S. To travel over, delivering speeches for electioneering purposes. See To go on the stump, under Stump, n.
11. v. To put (a batsman) out of play by knocking off the bail, or knocking down the stumps of the wicket he is defending while he is off his allotted ground; -- sometimes with out.
12. v. To bowl down the stumps of, as, of a wicket.
13. v. To walk clumsily, as if on stumps.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. (cricket) any of three upright wooden posts that form the wicket
2. n. the base part of a tree that remains standing after the tree has been felled
3. v. travel through a district and make political speeches
4. n. the part of a limb or tooth that remains after the rest is removed
5. v. cause to be perplexed or confounded
6. v. walk heavily
7. v. remove tree stumps from
8. n. a platform raised above the surrounding level to give prominence to the person on it