1. The usually short end remaining after something bigger has been used up: a pencil stub; a cigarette stub. See Regional Note at stob.
2. Something cut short or arrested in development: a stub of a tail.
3. 1. The part of a check or receipt retained as a record.
   2. The part of a ticket returned as a voucher of payment.

1. 1. To pull up (weeds) by the roots.
   2. To clear (a field) of weeds.
2. To strike (one's toe or foot) against something accidentally.
3. To snuff out (a cigarette butt) by crushing.

[Middle English stubbe, tree stump, from Old English stybb.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.