Stickful Stick"ful noun ; plural Stickfuls (Print.) As much set type as fills a composing stick.

Stickiness Stick"i·ness noun The quality of being sticky; as, the stickiness of glue or paste.

Sticking Stick"ing adjective & noun from Stick , v. Sticking piece , a piece of beef cut from the neck. [ Eng.] -- Sticking place , the place where a thing sticks, or remains fast; sticking point.

But screw your courage to the sticking place ,
And we'll not fail.

Shak. -- Sticking plaster , an adhesive plaster for closing wounds, and for similar uses. -- Sticking point . Same as Sticking place , above.

Stickit Stick"it adjective Stuck; spoiled in making. [ Scot.] Stickit minister , a candidate for the clerical office who fails, disqualified by incompetency or immorality.

Stickle Stic"kle intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Stickled ; present participle & verbal noun Stickling .] [ Probably from Middle English stightlen , sti...tlen , to dispose, arrange, govern, freq. of stihten , Anglo-Saxon stihtan : confer German stiften to found, to establish.] 1. To separate combatants by intervening. [ Obsolete]

When he [ the angel] sees half of the Christians killed, and the rest in a fair way of being routed, he stickles betwixt the remainder of God's host and the race of fiends.

Dryden. 2. To contend, contest, or altercate, esp. in a pertinacious manner on insufficient grounds.

Fortune, as she 's wont, turned fickle,
And for the foe began to stickle .

Hudibras.

While for paltry punk they roar and stickle .

Dryden.

The obstinacy with which he stickles for the wrong.

Hazlitt. 3. To play fast and loose; to pass from one side to the other; to trim.

Stickle Stic"kle transitive verb 1. To separate, as combatants; hence, to quiet, to appease, as disputants. [ Obsolete]

Which [ question] violently they pursue,
Nor stickled would they be.

Drayton. 2. To intervene in; to stop, or put an end to, by intervening; hence, to arbitrate. [ Obsolete]

They ran to him, and, pulling him back by force, stickled that unnatural fray.

Sir P. Sidney.

Stickle Stic"kle noun [ Confer stick , transitive verb & i. ] A shallow rapid in a river; also, the current below a waterfall. [ Obsolete or Prov. Eng.]

Patient anglers, standing all the day
Near to some shallow stickle or deep bay.

W. Browne.

Stickleback Stic"kle·back` noun [ Middle English & Prov English stickle a prickle, spine, sting (AS. sticel ) + back . See Stick , transitive verb , and confer Banstickle .] (Zoology) Any one of numerous species of small fishes of the genus Gasterosteus and allied genera. The back is armed with two or more sharp spines. They inhabit both salt and brackish water, and construct curious nests. Called also sticklebag , sharpling , and prickleback .

Stickler Stic"kler (stĭk"klẽr) noun [ See Stickle , transitive verb ] One who stickles. Specifically: -- (a) One who arbitrates a duel; a sidesman to a fencer; a second; an umpire. [ Obsolete]

Basilius, the judge, appointed sticklers and trumpets whom the others should obey.

Sir P. Sidney.

Our former chiefs, like sticklers of the war,
First sought to inflame the parties, then to poise.

Dryden. (b) One who pertinaciously contends for some trifling things, as a point of etiquette; an unreasonable, obstinate contender; as, a stickler for ceremony.

The Tory or High-church were the greatest sticklers against the exorbitant proceedings of King James II.

Swift.

Sticktail Stick"tail` noun The ruddy duck. [ Local, U.S.]

Sticky Stick"y adjective [ Compar. Stickier ; superl. Stickiest .] Having the quality of sticking to a surface; adhesive; gluey; viscous; viscid; glutinous; tenacious.

Herbs which last longest are those of strong smell, and with a sticky stalk.

Bacon.

Stiddy Stid"dy noun [ See Stithy .] An anvil; also, a smith shop. See Stithy . [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Stiff Stiff adjective [ Compar. Stiffer ; superl. Stiffest .] [ Middle English stif , Anglo-Saxon stīf ; akin to Dutch stijf , German steif , Danish stiv , Swedish styf , Icelandic stīfr , Lithuanian stipti to be stiff; confer Latin stipes a post, trunk of a tree, stipare to press, compress. Confer Costive , Stifle , Stipulate , Stive to stuff.] 1. Not easily bent; not flexible or pliant; not limber or flaccid; rigid; firm; as, stiff wood, paper, joints.

[ They] rising on stiff pennons, tower
The mid aërial sky.

Milton. 2. Not liquid or fluid; thick and tenacious; inspissated; neither soft nor hard; as, the paste is stiff . 3. Firm; strong; violent; difficult to oppose; as, a stiff gale or breeze. 4. Not easily subdued; unyielding; stubborn; obstinate; pertinacious; as, a stiff adversary.

It is a shame to stand stiff in a foolish argument.

Jer. Taylor.

A war ensues: the Cretans own their cause,
Stiff to defend their hospitable laws.

Dryden. 5. Not natural and easy; formal; constrained; affected; starched; as, stiff behavior; a stiff style.

The French are open, familiar, and talkative; the Italians stiff , ceremonious, and reserved.

Addison. 6. Harsh; disagreeable; severe; hard to bear. [ Obsolete or Colloq.] "This is stiff news." Shak. 7. (Nautical) Bearing a press of canvas without careening much; as, a stiff vessel; -- opposed to crank . Totten. 8. Very large, strong, or costly; powerful; as, a stiff charge; a stiff price. [ Slang] Stiff neck , a condition of the neck such that the head can not be moved without difficulty and pain. Syn. -- Rigid; inflexible; strong; hardly; stubborn; obstinate; pertinacious; harsh; formal; constrained; affected; starched; rigorous.

Stiff-backed Stiff"-backed` adjective Obstinate. J. H. Newman.

Stiff-hearted Stiff"-heart`ed adjective [ Stiff + heart .] Obstinate; stubborn; contumacious. Ezek. ii. 4.

Stiff-necked Stiff"-necked` adjective Stubborn; inflexibly obstinate; contumacious; as, stiff-necked pride; a stiff-necked people. Ex. xxxii. 9.

Stiff-neckedness Stiff"-neck`ed·ness noun The quality or state of being stiff-necked; stubbornness.

Stiff-tailed Stiff"-tailed` adjective (Zoology) Having the quill feathers of the tail somewhat rigid.

Stiffen Stiff"en transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Stiffened ; present participle & verbal noun Stiffening .] [ See Stiff .] 1. To make stiff; to make less pliant or flexible; as, to stiffen cloth with starch.

Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood.

Shak. 2. To inspissate; to make more thick or viscous; as, to stiffen paste. 3. To make torpid; to benumb.

Stiffen Stiff"en intransitive verb To become stiff or stiffer, in any sense of the adjective.

Like bristles rose my stiffening hair.

Dryden.

The tender soil then stiffening by degrees.

Dryden.

Some souls we see,
Grow hard and stiffen with adversity.

Dryden.

Stiffener Stiff"en·er noun One who, or that which, stiffens anything, as a piece of stiff cloth in a cravat.

Stiffening Stiff"en·ing noun 1. Act or process of making stiff. 2. Something used to make anything stiff. Stiffening order (Com.) , a permission granted by the customs department to take cargo or ballast on board before the old cargo is out, in order to steady the ship.

Stiffish Stiff"ish adjective Somewhat stiff.

Stiffly Stiff"ly adverb In a stiff manner.

Stiffness Stiff"ness noun The quality or state of being stiff; as, the stiffness of cloth or of paste; stiffness of manner; stiffness of character.

The vices of old age have the stiffness of it too.

South.

Stifftail Stiff"tail` noun The ruddy duck. [ Local, U.S.]

Stifle Sti"fle noun [ From Stiff .] (Far.) The joint next above the hock, and near the flank, in the hind leg of the horse and allied animals; the joint corresponding to the knee in man; -- called also stifle joint . See Illust. under Horse . Stifle bone , a small bone at the stifle joint; the patella, or kneepan.

Stifle Sti"fle transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Stifled ; present participle & verbal noun Stifling .] [ Freq. of Middle English stif stiff; confer Icelandic stīfla to dam up.] 1. To stop the breath of by crowding something into the windpipe, or introducing an irrespirable substance into the lungs; to choke; to suffocate; to cause the death of by such means; as, to stifle one with smoke or dust.

Stifled with kisses, a sweet death he dies.

Dryden.

I took my leave, being half stifled with the closeness of the room.

Swift. 2. To stop; to extinguish; to deaden; to quench; as, to stifle the breath; to stifle a fire or flame.

Bodies . . . stifle in themselves the rays which they do not reflect or transmit.

Sir I. Newton. 3. To suppress the manifestation or report of; to smother; to conceal from public knowledge; as, to stifle a story; to stifle passion.

I desire only to have things fairly represented as they really are; no evidence smothered or stifled .

Waterland.

Stifle Sti"fle intransitive verb To die by reason of obstruction of the breath, or because some noxious substance prevents respiration.

You shall stifle in your own report.

Shak.

Stifled Sti"fled adjective Stifling.

The close and stifled study.

Hawthorne.

Stifler Sti"fler noun 1. One who, or that which, stifles. 2. (Mil.) See Camouflet .

Stigma Stig"ma noun ; plural English Stigmas , Latin Stigmata . [ Latin , a mark, a brand, from Greek ..., ..., the prick or mark of a pointed instrument, a spot, mark, from ... to prick, to brand. See Stick , transitive verb ] 1. A mark made with a burning iron; a brand. 2. Any mark of infamy or disgrace; sign of moral blemish; stain or reproach caused by dishonorable conduct; reproachful characterization.

The blackest stigma that can be fastened upon him.

Bp. Hall.

All such slaughters were from thence called Bartelmies, simply in a perpetual stigma of that butchery.

Sir G. Buck. 3. (Botany) That part of a pistil which has no epidermis, and is fitted to receive the pollen. It is usually the terminal portion, and is commonly somewhat glutinous or viscid. See Illust. of Stamen and of Flower . 4. (Anat.) A small spot, mark, scar, or a minute hole; -- applied especially to a spot on the outer surface of a Graafian follicle, and to spots of intercellular substance in scaly epithelium, or to minute holes in such spots. 5. (Pathol.) A red speck upon the skin, produced either by the extravasation of blood, as in the bloody sweat characteristic of certain varieties of religious ecstasy, or by capillary congestion, as in the case of drunkards. 6. (Zoology) (a) One of the external openings of the tracheæ of insects, myriapods, and other arthropods; a spiracle. (b) One of the apertures of the pulmonary sacs of arachnids. See Illust. of Scorpion . (c) One of the apertures of the gill of an ascidian, and of Amphioxus. 7. (Geom.) A point so connected by any law whatever with another point, called an index , that as the index moves in any manner in a plane the first point or stigma moves in a determinate way in the same plane. 8. plural (R. C. Ch.) Marks believed to have been supernaturally impressed upon the bodies of certain persons in imitation of the wounds on the crucified body of Christ. See def. 5, above.

Stigmaria Stig·ma"ri·a noun [ New Latin See Stigma .] (Paleon.) The fossil root stem of a coal plant of the genus Sigillaria .

Stigmata Stig"ma·ta noun ; plural of Stigma .

Stigmatic Stig·mat"ic noun 1. A notorious profligate or criminal who has been branded; one who bears the marks of infamy or punishment. [ R.] Bullokar. 2. A person who is marked or deformed by nature. Shak.

Stigmatic, Stigmatical Stig·mat"ic, Stig·mat"ic·al adjective [ See Stigma .] 1. Marked with a stigma, or with something reproachful to character. 2. Impressing with infamy or reproach. [ R.] 3. (Bot., Anat., etc) Of or pertaining to a stigma or stigmata. Stigmatic geometry , or Stigmatics , that science in which the correspondence of index and stigma (see Stigma , 7) is made use of to establish geometrical proportions.

Stigmatically Stig·mat"ic·al·ly adverb With a stigma, or mark of infamy or deformity.

Stigmatist Stig"ma·tist noun One believed to be supernaturally impressed with the marks of Christ's wounds. See Stigma , 8.

Stigmatization Stig`ma·ti·za"tion noun 1. The act of stigmatizing. 2. (R. C. Ch.) The production of stigmata upon the body. See Stigma , 8.

Stigmatize Stig"ma·tize transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Stigmatized ; present participle & verbal noun Stigmatizing .] [ French stigmatiser , Greek ....] 1. To mark with a stigma, or brand; as, the ancients stigmatized their slaves and soldiers.

That . . . hold out both their ears with such delight and ravishment, to be stigmatized and bored through in witness of their own voluntary and beloved baseness.

Milton. 2. To set a mark of disgrace on; to brand with some mark of reproach or infamy.

To find virtue extolled and vice stigmatized .

Addison.

Stigmatose Stig"ma·tose` adjective (Botany) Same as Stigmatic .

Stigonomancy Stig"o·no·man`cy noun [ Greek ..., ..., one who is marked, or one who marks (... to mark with a pointed instrument, to prick) + -mancy .] Divination by writing on the bark of a tree.

Stike Stike noun [ See Stich .] Stanza. [ Obsolete] Sackville.

Stilar Sti"lar adjective [ From Stile a style.] Of or pertaining to the style of a dial. [ Written also stylar .]

Stilbene Stil"bene noun [ See Stilbite .] (Chemistry) A hydrocarbon, C ₁₄ H ₁₂ , produced artificially in large, fine crystals; -- called also diphenyl ethylene , toluylene , etc.

Stilbite Stil"bite noun [ Greek ... to glitter, shine: confer French stilbite .] (Min.) A common mineral of the zeolite family, a hydrous silicate of alumina and lime, usually occurring in sheaflike aggregations of crystals, also in radiated masses. It is of a white or yellowish color, with pearly luster on the cleavage surface. Called also desmine .

Stile Stile noun [ See Style .] 1. A pin set on the face of a dial, to cast a shadow; a style. See Style . Moxon. 2. Mode of composition. See Style . [ Obsolete]

May I not write in such a stile as this?

Bunyan.

Stile Stile noun [ Middle English stile , Anglo-Saxon stigel a step, a ladder, from stīgan to ascend; akin to Old High German stigila a stile. √164. See Sty , intransitive verb , and confer Stair .] 1. A step, or set of steps, for ascending and descending, in passing a fence or wall.

There comes my master . . . over the stile , this way.

Shak.

Over this stile in the way to Doubting Castle.

Bunyan. 2. (Architecture) One of the upright pieces in a frame; one of the primary members of a frame, into which the secondary members are mortised. » In an ordinary door the principal upright pieces are called stiles , the subordinate upright pieces mullions , and the crosspieces rails . In wainscoting the principal pieces are sometimes called stiles , even when horizontal. Hanging stile , Pulley stile . See under Hanging , and Pulley .

Stilet Sti"let noun [ Written also stilette , and stylet .] 1. A stiletto. [ R.] 2. (Surg.) See Stylet , 2.

Stiletto Sti·let"to noun ; plural Stilettos . [ Italian , dim. of stilo a dagger, from Latin stilus a pointed instrument. See Style for writing, and confer Stylet .] 1. A kind of dagger with a slender, rounded, and pointed blade. 2. A pointed instrument for making eyelet holes in embroidery. 3. A beard trimmed into a pointed form. [ Obsolete]

The very quack of fashions, the very he that
Wears a stiletto on his chin.

Ford.