stub

English

Etymology

From Middle English stubbe (“tree stump”), from Old English stybb, stubb (“tree stump”), from Proto-West Germanic *stubb, from Proto-Germanic *stubbaz (compare Middle Dutch stubbe, Old Norse stubbr, Faroese stubbi (“stub”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tew-; compare steep (“sharp slope”).

Sense extended in Middle English to similarly shaped objects. Verb sense “strike one’s toe” is recorded 1848; “extinguish a cigarette” 1927.

Pronunciation

• enPR: stŭb, IPA^(key): /stʌb/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌb

Noun

stub (plural stubs)

1. Something blunted, stunted, or cut short, such as stubble or a stump.
   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     And prickly stubs instead of trees are found.

3. A piece of certain paper items, designed to be torn off and kept for record or identification purposes.

   check stub

   ticket stub

   payment stub

5. (programming) A placeholder procedure that has the signature of the planned procedure but does not yet implement the intended behavior.

   Coordinate terms: mock, mock object

   • 2000, Nell B. Dale; Chip Weems; John W. McCormick, Programming and Problem Solving with ADA 95, second edition, Jones & Bartlett Learning, →ISBN, page 352:

     Even though the stub is a dummy, it allows us to determine whether the procedure is called at the right time by the program or calling procedure.

7. (computing, middleware) A procedure that translates requests from external systems into a format suitable for processing and then submits those requests for processing.

   Coordinate term: skeleton

   • 2002, Judith M. Myerson, The Complete Book of Middleware, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 7:

     The server performs the server RPC runtime library functions to accept the request and call the server stub procedure. […] After this, the server stub calls the actual procedure on the server.

9. (typography, in tabular matter) A row heading in a table (with horizontal reference, whereas a column heading has vertical reference).

   Coordinate term: substub

10. (chiefly Wikimedia jargon) A page providing only minimal information and intended for later development.
    • 2008, John Broughton, Wikipedia: The Missing Manual, O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 66:

      A stub is usually long enough to serve as a quick definition, but too short to provide encyclopedic coverage of a subject (see Figure 4-2).

11. The remaining part of the docked tail of a dog
12. An unequal first or last interest calculation period, as a part of a financial swap contract
13. (obsolete) A log or block of wood.
14. (obsolete) A blockhead.
    • [1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London: […] Thomas Underhill and/or Thomas Johnson], →OCLC, page 3:

      I doubt not but ye ſhall have more adoe to drive out dulleſt and lazieſt youth, our ſtocks and ſtubbs from the infinite deſire of such a happy nurture, than we have now to hale and drag our choiſeſt and hopefulleſt wits to that aſinine feaſt of ſowthiſtles and brambles[.]

15. A pen with a short, blunt nib.
16. An old and worn horseshoe nail.
17. Stub iron.
18. The smallest remainder of a smoked cigarette; a butt.

Hyponyms

• stubble
• stump

Derived terms

• pencil stub
• pay stub
• stub axle

Translations

something cut short, blunted, or stunted

• Armenian: (tree stump) կոճղ (hy) (kočł), կճատ (hy) (kčat)
• Bulgarian: парче (bg) n (parče), остатък (bg) m (ostatǎk)
• Czech: pahýl (cs) m, odřezek m, pařez (cs) m
• Dutch: stomp (nl) m
• Finnish: tynkä (fi), töpö (fi)
• French: souche (fr) f, moignon (fr) m
• German: Stummel (de) m; Stumpf (de) m
• Hebrew: גֶּדֶם‎ (he) m
• Irish: snab m, snabóg f (of a candle)
• Italian: mozzicone (it) m
• Korean: 그루 (ko) (geuru), 그루터기 (geuruteogi)
• Portuguese: toco (pt) m
• Russian: обло́мок (ru) m (oblómok), огры́зок (ru) m (ogrýzok), корешо́к (ru) m (korešók)
• Spanish: tocón (es), cepa (es), cachito (es)
• Swedish: stump (sv) c
• Turkish: kütük (tr)

a piece of certain paper items, designed to be torn off and kept for record or identification purposes

• Bulgarian: талон (bg) m (talon)
• Finnish: kanta (fi)
• French: souche (fr) f, talon (fr) m
• German: Abreißzettel m
• Italian: matrice (it) f
• Portuguese: canhoto (pt) m, talão (pt) m
• Russian: корешо́к (ru) m (korešók)
• Spanish: desprendible m, resguardo (es) m, talón (es) m

computing: a placeholder procedure

• German: Stub m, Stutzen (de) m
• Navajo: tsehégod

computing: procedure that translates external requests into a suitable format

(wikis) page providing minimal information

• Arabic: بذرَة‎ f

  Egyptian Arabic: تقاوى‎ pl (taʾāwi)

• Catalan: esborrany (ca)
• Czech: pahýl (cs) m
• Finnish: tynkä (fi)
• French: ébauche (fr) f
• German: Abriss (de) m
• Greek: λήμμα προς επέκταση n (límma pros epéktasi)
• Hungarian: csonk (hu)
• Italian: abbozzo (it)
• Polish: zalążek artykułu m
• Portuguese: esboço (pt)
• Russian: болва́нка (ru) f (bolvánka)
• Serbo-Croatian: mrva (sh) f
• Slovene: škrbina f
• Spanish: esbozo (es) m
• Turkish: taslak (tr)
• Welsh: eginyn

remaining part of the docked tail of a dog

• Finnish: tynkä (fi)
• French: moignon (fr) m
• Italian: moncherino (it) m

finance: part of a financial swap contract

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Verb

stub (third-person singular simple present stubs, present participle stubbing, simple past and past participle stubbed)

1. (transitive) To remove most of a tree, bush, or other rooted plant by cutting it close to the ground.
2. (transitive) To remove a plant by pulling it out by the roots.
3. (transitive) To jam, hit, or bump, especially a toe.

   I stubbed my toe trying to find the light switch in the dark.

Derived terms

• unstubbed

Translations

to remove most of a tree, bush, or other rooted plant by cutting it close to the ground

• German: roden (de)

to remove a plant by pulling it out by the roots

• Bulgarian: изкоренявам (bg) (izkorenjavam)
• Dutch: wieden (nl) (2)
• Estonian: juurima
• Finnish: juuria (fi), kitkeä (fi)
• German: ausroden
• Italian: sradicare (it)
• Portuguese: desarraigar (pt)

to jam, hit, or bump, especially a toe

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: please add this translation if you can

  Mandarin: 碰到 (zh) (pèngdào)

• Dutch: stoten (nl)
• German: stoßen (de)
• Swedish: slå i (sv)

Further reading

• stub in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• stub in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• stub at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• BTUs, TBUs, bust, but's, buts, tubs

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• stȗp

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *stъlbъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stûːb/

Noun

stȗb m (Cyrillic spelling сту̑б)

1. pillar
2. column (upright supporting beam)

Declension

Declension of stub

	singular	plural
nominative	stub	stubovi
genitive	stuba	stubova
dative	stubu	stubovima
accusative	stub	stubove
vocative	stube	stubovi
locative	stubu	stubovima
instrumental	stubom	stubovima