the.com/stump
the dead tree's stubborn last word, refusing to admit the chainsaw won
means The stub of a tree, limb, or other thing left after the main part has been cut, broken, or worn away — and, by extension, to baffle someone or to travel about making political speeches.
from From Middle English 'stumpe,' with cousins across the Germanic family — Middle Low German 'stump' and Dutch 'stomp,' all carrying the sense of something blunt or cut short. The political meaning is purely American: frontier orators literally stood on tree stumps to be seen and heard while addressing a crowd, so a candidate going 'on the stump' was once doing exactly that. The sense of being 'stumped' — left blocked and baffled — likely grew from settlers whose plows kept jamming against stubborn stumps hidden in newly cleared fields.
- still alive
- Cut stumps can survive decades via neighbors' shared roots
- campaign trail
- Politicians literally stood on stumps to speechify
- underground network
- Linked stumps get sugar pumped from living trees
- removal trick
- Epsom salt rots them faster than chemicals
the ashes — cricket series between england and australia since 1882, with actual stumps as central to the game
cornwallis tree stump — giant redwood stump in california, 21 feet diameter, used as a cabin in the 1890s
giant forest stump trail — sequoia national park, california—walking path through massive ancient tree remains