Stake:
To have a stake in something is to have a share in it. I can find not
one single suggestion as to where this saying came from. All my
reference books merely say "circa 16th century of unknown origin".
However, it is not difficult to suggest that the origin has something
to do with driving a stake into the ground to either mark out, or to
make claim to, a piece of land.
I
thought that at stake must have the same basis. However, in December
2004, I had the following message:
In Shakespeare the Complete Works edited by GB Harrison, copyright
1948, appendix 5, pages 1634,1635 the practice of bear baiting is
discussed. As a form of entertainment a bear was tethered to a stake
and 4 or 5 mastiffs were set upon the bear. The dogs were removed
before the bear was killed. Bets were placed, but the text doesn't
state whether the bets were upon which dog would be killed first or how
long the bear would last. This is apparently the origin of having money
"at the stake" or "at stake".
Apparently a similar form of entertainment involved a loose bull and
dogs, but the sport continued until the bull was killed.
This text references another text for more on the sport of bear and
bull baiting - EK Chambers, The Elizabethan Stage Vol II PP 448-71.
Thank you for maintaining a fascinating web site.
Sharon Shieh, Chicago, USA
Stave: To stave off something is to ward it off; to put a problem at a
distance. Stave is another word for Staff, the sort of long, strong
stick carried by medieval men which could be used to fend off attackers.
Steep: That's a bit steep is a saying used to express surprise or even
disbelief. It is attributed to the Duke of Wellington who, on being
told by George IV (quite falsely as it happens) that he had sent a
troop of cavalry down the precipitously steep sides of the Devil's Dyke
near Brighton, merely replied "very steep, sir, very steep".
Stick: To get hold of wrong end of the stick means to misunderstand
something, to misinterpret a statement. The precise origin is not
clear. It's could refer to a walking stick held upside down, which does
not help a walker much. The phrase apparently originated in the 1400s
as 'worse end of the staff' and then changed to the current wording
only in the late 1800s. An even older origin is reputed to have come
from the Roman use of communal toilets, where people sat side by side.
Personal cleansing was done with the aid of communal sponges mounted on
sticks. If you picked up the wrong end, then you got the sponge!
Sticks: To up sticks is to leave a place and go elsewhere. The origin
is obscure. Some say that the 'sticks' are items of furniture, and
others that it to do with raising a mast before a ship sails. Yet
others think it came from the days of horse travel, where the 'picket'
was a rope strung from sticks/stakes where the horses were tethered. To
'up sticks' was to depart for a fresh pasture/camping ground.
An alternative was given on a BBC TV programme about the restoration of
a Scottish croft. These small houses were small and often meant only
for temporary occupation during a period of work. The frame was of
rough cut, unseasoned timber, often straight from the forest. Some of
the timber pieces (sticks) had to be of a special shape, such as those
needed for the roof structure. Such pieces were of great practical
value and were taken from the croft and reused when the family moved on
- thus the expression. You may take your pick, although the saying is
said to be no older than the 19thC.
Sticking point: If someone reaches their sticking point, then they have
reached a situation from which they won't move. Was there ever a point
where something stuck? The answer is 'yes'. The phrase's origin is
Macbeth and the meaning was clear from the context, but was there ever
a physical "sticking point"? It seems there was. Lady Macbeth actually
says "sticking place", not "point," a reference to the medieval
crossbow. You pull the string tight by winding it until it reaches a
notch, the sticking place, where it is held, fully taut and ready to be
released; it can't go any further. The analogy is clear.
Stickler: A Stickler is someone who unyieldingly insists on something.
The earliest Sticklers were umpires or referees at wrestling or fencing
matches. The word comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'Stihtan' - to arrange or
regulate.
Stiff necked: To describe someone as stiff necked is to indicate that
they are stubborn. This comes from driving horses; a horse that won't
turn its head in response to a tug on the rein is hard to direct. An
obsolete meaning of "stiff-necked" describes such a horse. (OED)
Stitch: To stitch someone up is a common British phrase and, perhaps,
in other parts of the world. However, it seems to be unknown in the US.
It means to manoeuvre someone into a difficult position; to compromise
them; to put them in jeopardy. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
says that 'to stitch someone up' means 'to betray a person by
fabricating evidence against them; to manipulate a situation to one's
advantage.' There are several possible origins, but by far and away the
most likely is found in one of the definitions of 'stitch' given in the
OED - to swindle.
Stops: To pull out all the stops implies maximum effort. This is a
direct comparison with organ music, where the loudness of the organ is
governed by the number of organ stops pulled out.
Strait laced: Straight laced means rigidly formal, almost humourless.
The Puritans believed that tight lacing of underclothes disciplined the
body, hence the expression and its association with a Puritanical type
outlook.
To Go straight: see Level
Strapped: If you're strapped for cash then you are hard up; pressed for
money. I can find no recorded basis for this saying, nor can I find it
even mentioned in my references. However it is not difficult to suggest
that the tightness induced by being strapped up could well cause of the
expression. However, in November 2008 I read on the
Phrases Message Board: "According to etymonline.com: "Slang adj.
strapped "short of money" is from 1857, from "strap" in a now-obsolete
sense of "financial credit" (1828)."
Straw: A man of straw is now-a-days a name for a weak minded individual
with no real strength of character. It may be that this derives from
comparison with a straw filled scarecrow but, in 1811, a man of straw
was a hired hand, so called from having straw stuck in his shoes to
distinguish him. Presumably he had no chance of offering any sort of
opinion to his employers.
Another possible origin comes from the "Straw Men" who loitered near
English courts with a straw in one of their shoes - thus indicating
that they were prepared to give false evidence in return for a fee;
they also didn't have opinions of their own.
The
last straw, used in the sense of the final burden that destroys an
effort, comes from the image of a piece of straw being added to a
camel's load and proving too much for the animal to carry.
