From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Prepositional phrase
[edit]up the stump
- (informal) At a loss, puzzled, in a bind.
- Synonyms: in trouble, up a stump; see also Thesaurus:in trouble
1900, Queensland Agricultural Journal, volume 7, page 216:Science is up the stump. She can't find out why green sorghum should be so quickly fatal to cattle, says an exchange.
1907, The American Journal of Clinical Medicine, volume 14, page 662:He said old Dr. Blank had been attending to him all day, but was “up the stump” and wanted me to help.
2001, Suzanne L. Bunkers, Diaries of Girls and Women: A Midwestern American Sampler, University of Wisconsin Press, →ISBN, page 218:Just today I gave his history class a few questions to answer and hand in, but when it came time to answering the last two he was up the stump.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:up the stump.
- (Canada, informal) Pregnant.
- Synonyms: in trouble, up the duff; see also Thesaurus:pregnant
1976, Richard B. Wright, Farthings Fortune's, Macmillan of Canada, →ISBN, page 266:Met him at a dance, a skinny little French-Canadian who shot her a line of bull and put her up the stump before waving goodbye from the troop train.
1987, Anne Cameron, Stubby Amberchuk & The Holy Grail, Harbour Publishing, →ISBN, page 75:"I'm real glad that you told me. When your mom and I got married, it was because she was up the stump, you know that, huh?"
1989, David Helwig, A Postcard from Rome, Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 100:You're up the stump, Edith Fulton. You're going to have a baby.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:up the stump.
