Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - stump

~1 n 1 »TREE« the bottom part of a tree that is left in the ground after the rest of it has been cut down; tree stump 2 »SOMETHING BROKEN« the small useless part of something that remains after most of it has broken off or worn away  (the stump of a broken tooth) 3 »ARM/LEG« the short part of someone's leg, arm etc that remains after the rest of it has been cut off 4 »IN SPORT« one of the three upright sticks in cricket (2) that you throw the ball at 5 stump speech AmE a speech made while travelling around to get political support ~2 v 1 to ask someone such a difficult question that they are completely unable to think of an answer  (trying to stump the teacher | be stumped)  (Nobody knows - even the experts are stumped. | get/have sb stumped)  (This question'll have them all stumped.) 2 I + up/along/across to walk with heavy steps; stomp 3 to put a batsman out of the game in cricket (2) by touching the stumps with the ball when he is out of the hitting area 4 AmE to travel around an area, meeting people and making speeches in order to gain political support  (I'm too old to keep stumping around the state.) stump up phr v I BrE informal to pay money, even if it is difficult  (That's ten quid you owe me. Come on, stump up.)