stub

From Middle English stubbe (“tree stump”), from Old English stybb, stubb (“tree stump”), from Proto-Germanic *stubbaz (compare Middle Dutch stubbe, Old Norse stubbr), 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.[1]

• enPR: stŭb, IPA^(key): /stʌb/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌb

stub (plural stubs)

1. Something blunted, stunted, or cut short, such as stubble or a stump.
   • Dryden

     And prickly stubs instead of trees are found.

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

   check stub, ticket stub, payment stub

3. (computing) A placeholder procedure that has the signature of the planned procedure but does not yet implement the intended behavior.
   • , ,
   • 1996, Chip Weems, Nell Dale, Pascal:

     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.

4. (computing) A procedure that translates requests from external systems into a format suitable for processing and then submits those requests for processing.
   • , ,
   • 2002, Judith M Myerson, The Complete Book of Middleware:

     After this, the server stub calls the actual procedure on the server.

5. (wikis) A page providing only minimal information and intended for later development.
6. The remaining part of the docked tail of a dog
7. An unequal first or last interest calculation period, as a part of a financial swap contract
8. (obsolete) A log; a block; a blockhead.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)

9. A pen with a short, blunt nib.
10. A stub nail; an old horseshoe nail; also, stub iron.
11. The smallest remainder of a smoked cigarette; a butt.

• (computing) skeleton (4)

• stubble
• stump

• pencil stub
• pay stub

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

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

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

• unstubbed

• 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

• BTUs, bust, but's, buts, tubs

• stȗp

From Proto-Slavic *stъlbъ.

• IPA^(key): /stûːb/

stȗb m (Cyrillic spelling сту̑б)

1. pillar
2. column (upright supporting beam)