stub

To hit your toe painfully against something hard.

• I always stub my toe here.
• She stubbed her toe on the bed.
• Did you stub your toe against the door?

How to use it: stub your toe on/against something (I stubbed my toe on a chair leg.)

Common phrases: stub your toe, stub a toe

To stop a cigarette or something similar from burning by pressing and crushing its burning end.

• Please stub out your cigarette.
• He stubbed his cigar out in the ashtray.
• She used her heel to stub out the burning end.

How to use it: stub something out (She stubbed her cigarette out before entering.); stub out something (He stubbed out the cigar.)

Similar words: extinguish, put out

Common phrases: stub out something, stub something out

To remove a plant from the ground, including its roots.

• They had to stub out the old hedge.
• The farmer stubbed the field before planting wheat.
• Workers stubbed up the bushes along the fence.

How to use it: stub out/up something (They stubbed out the unwanted bushes.)

Similar words: uproot, grub up

Common phrases: stub out something, stub a field, stub up something

A short piece left after most of something has been used or worn away.

• Only a stub of the candle remained.
• She wrote with a tiny pencil stub.
• Cigarette stubs filled the old ashtray.

How to use it: a stub of something (A stub of chalk lay on the table.)

Similar words: butt, remnant

Common phrases: pencil stub, cigarette stub, candle stub

The small part of a ticket or cheque you keep as proof or a record.

• Keep your ticket stub.
• She saved the concert stubs in a box.
• The cheque stub showed the amount he had paid.

Similar words: counterfoil

Common phrases: ticket stub, check stub, keep the stub, receipt stub

A short, blunt piece sticking out where something has been cut or broken.

• A short stub stuck out of the trunk.
• The broken handle left a sharp-edged stub.
• He trimmed the branch stubs close to the tree.

How to use it: a stub of something (A stub of the broken branch remained.)

Similar words: stump

Common phrases: branch stub, short stub, stub of something

A very short article that needs more information added later.

• This page is only a stub.
• An editor expanded the stub with more information.
• Many articles about small villages remain stubs.

Common phrases: article stub, expand a stub, stub article