stump

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

• noun The part of a tree trunk left protruding from the ground after the tree has fallen or has been felled.
• noun A part, as of a branch, limb, or tooth, remaining after the main part has been cut away, broken off, or worn down.
• noun Informal The legs.
• noun An artificial leg.
• noun Derogatory A short, thickset person.
• noun A heavy footfall.
• noun A place or an occasion used for political or campaign oratory.
• noun 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.
• noun Sports Any of the three upright sticks in a cricket wicket.
• intransitive verb To reduce to a stump.
• intransitive verb To clear stumps from.
• intransitive verb To stub (a toe or foot).
• intransitive verb To walk over heavily or clumsily.
• intransitive verb To traverse (a district or region) making political speeches.
• intransitive verb To shade (a drawing) with a stump.
• intransitive verb To challenge (someone); dare.
• intransitive verb To cause to be at a loss; baffle.
• intransitive verb To walk heavily or clumsily.
• intransitive verb To go about making political speeches.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun 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.
• noun 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.
• noun plural Legs: as, to stir one's stumps.
• noun A post.
• noun One of the three posts constituting a wicket in the game of cricket.
• noun 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.
• noun 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.
• noun 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.
• noun In coal-mining, a small pillar of coal left between the gangway or airway and the breasts to protect these passages; any small pillar.
• noun A blunted sound; a sound which seems to be suddenly cut off or stopped: a thud.
• noun A challenge or defiance to do something considered impracticable, very difficult, or very daring—that is, something to stump the person attempting it.
• noun In entomology, a very short vein or nervure of the wing, arising from another vein, and suddenly ending without emitting branches.
• noun Of worms, a foot-stump. See parapodium, 1.
• Stumped; stumpy; truncated; like a stump or stub: as, a dog with a stump tail.
• Of or pertaining to the stump in the political sense: as, a stump speech or speaker; stump eloquence.
• noun 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.
• noun 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.
• To truncate; lop; reduce to a stump.
• To strike unexpectedly and sharply, as the foot or toes, against something fixed; stub: as, to stump one's toe against a stone.
• 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.
• Hence To challenge or dare to do something difficult, dangerous, or adventurous.
• To make stump speeches in or to; canvass or address with stump oratory: as, to stump a county or a constituency.
• In cricket: To knock down a stump or the stumps of.
• 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.
• Hence To defeat; impoverish; ruin.
• To pay on the spot; plank down; hand over: generally with up.
• In art, to use a stump upon; tone or modify by the application of a stump: as, to stump a crayon-or charcoal-drawing.
• In hat-making. to stretch out (a felted wool hat) after the operation of washing, and prior to drying.
• To walk stiffly, heavily, or noisily, as if on stumps or wooden legs.
• To make stump speeches; conduct electioneering by public speaking; make harangues from the stump. See stump, n., 8.