stud

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A group of animals, especially horses, kept for breeding.
• noun A male animal, such as a stallion, that is kept for breeding.
• noun A stable or farm where these animals are kept.
• noun A usually young man who is very sexually active or promiscuous.
• noun A usually young man regarded as attractive and well-built.
• noun Slang A person who is extremely competent in a given area.
• noun Games Stud poker.
• idiom (at stud) Available or offered for breeding. Used of animals.
• noun An upright post in the framework of a wall for supporting sheets of lath, drywall, or similar material.
• noun A small knob, nail head, or rivet fixed in and slightly projecting from a surface.
• noun A small ornamental button mounted on a short post for insertion through an eyelet, as on a dress shirt.
• noun A buttonlike earring mounted on a slender post, as of gold or steel, for wearing in a pierced earlobe.
• noun Any of various protruding pins or pegs in machinery, used mainly as a support or pivot.
• noun One of a number of small metal cleats embedded in a snow tire to increase traction on slippery or snowy roads.
• noun A metal crosspiece used as a brace in a link, as in a chain cable.
• transitive verb To provide with or construct with studs or a stud.
• transitive verb To set with studs or a stud.
• transitive verb To be scattered over.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To furnish with or support by studs, or upright props.
• To set with or as with studs.
• To set with protuberant objects of any kind; scatter over with separate things rising above the surface: as, a bay studded with islands.
• To lie scattered over the surface of; be spread prominently about in.
• noun Middle English forms of stead.
• noun A post; an upright prop or support; specifically, one of the small beams or scantlings in a building, of the height of a single story, which, with the laths nailed upon them, form the walls of the different rooms. See cut under siding.
• noun The stem, trunk, or stock of a tree or shrub.
• noun A transverse piece of cast-iron inserted in each link of a chain cable to prop the sides apart and strengthen it. See cut under chain.
• noun A nail, boss, knob, or protuberance affixed to a surface, especially as an ornament.
• noun A piece in the form of a boss or knob for use as a button or fastener, or in some other way.
• noun A number of horses kept for any purpose, especially for breeding or sporting.
• noun The place where a stud is kept, especially for breeding; a stud-farm.
• noun A stallion, especially one kept for service in breeding; a stud-horse.
• noun Dogs kept for breeding; a kennel.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A collection of breeding horses and mares, or the place where they are kept; also, a number of horses kept for a racing, riding, etc.
• transitive verb To adorn with shining studs, or knobs.
• transitive verb To set with detached ornaments or prominent objects; to set thickly, as with studs.
• noun obsolete A stem; a trunk.
• noun (Arch.) An upright scanting, esp. one of the small uprights in the framing for lath and plaster partitions, and furring, and upon which the laths are nailed.
• noun A kind of nail with a large head, used chiefly for ornament; an ornamental knob; a boss.
• noun An ornamental button of various forms, worn in a shirt front, collar, wristband, or the like, not sewed in place, but inserted through a buttonhole or eyelet, and transferable.
• noun A short rod or pin, fixed in and projecting from something, and sometimes forming a journal.
• noun A stud bolt.
• noun An iron brace across the shorter diameter of the link of a chain cable.
• noun a bolt with threads on both ends, to be screwed permanently into a fixed part at one end and receive a nut upon the other; -- called also standing bolt.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A small object that protrudes from something.
• noun jewelry A small round earring.