STASH, to cease doing anything, to refrain, be quiet, leave off; “STASH IT, there, you sir!” i.e., be quiet, sir; to give over a lewd or intemperate course of life is termed STASHING IT.
STEEL, the house of correction in London, formerly named the Bastile, but since shortened to STEEL.
STEEL BAR DRIVERS, or FLINGERS, journeymen tailors.
STEMS, the legs.
STEP IT, to run away, or make off.
STICK, a derogatory expression for a person; “a rum” or “odd STICK,” a curious man. More generally a “poor STICK.”—Provincial.
STICK, “cut your STICK,” be off, or go away; either simply equivalent to a recommendation to prepare a walking staff in readiness for a journey—in allusion to the Eastern custom of cutting a stick before setting out—or from the ancient mode of reckoning by notches or tallies on a stick. In Cornwall the peasantry tally sheaves of corn by cuts in a stick, reckoning by the score. Cut your stick in this sense may mean to make your mark and pass on—and so realise the meaning of the phrase “IN THE NICK (or notch) OF TIME.” Sir J. Emerson Tennent, in Notes and Queries (December, 1859), considers the phrase equivalent to “cutting the connection,” and suggests a possible origin in the prophets breaking the staves of “Beauty” and “Bands,”—vide Zech., xi., 10, 14.
STICK, to cheat; “he got STUCK,” he was taken in; STICK, to forget one’s part in a performance—Theatrical; STICK ON, to overcharge or defraud; STICK UP FOR, to defend a person, especially when slandered in his absence; STICK UP TO, to persevere in courting or attacking, whether in fisty-cuffs or argument; “to STICK in one’s gizzard,” to rankle in one’s heart; “to STICK TO a person,” to adhere to one, be his friend through adverse circumstances.
STICKS, furniture, or household chattels; “pick up your STICKS and cut!” summary advice to a person to take himself and furniture away.—Cumberland.
STICKS, pistols.—Nearly obsolete.