Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) the penis; thus (US gay) bent stick, dead stick, an impotent penis.

1680		M. Stevenson Wits Paraphras’d 42: With laughing when I read your Prose, / I was ready to bepiss my hose: / And nothing else, except your stick / Cou’d so much tickle me to th’ Quick.
1700		‘The Wanton Trick’ in Playford Pills to Purge Melancholy II 93: The string of his Viol she put to the Trial, / Till she had the full length of the Stick.
1719		in D‘Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy IV 94: His Viol-string burst, her Tuten she Curst, / However she play’d with the Stick.
c.1720		‘The Original black Joke. Sent from Dublin’ 🎵 The cuning [sic] sly Jade show’d him a trick / & sent him away with fire in his stick.
1748		Spy on Mother Midnight I 24: I think you was just now saying, that six or seven Inches would do as well as a Stick that would reach ’twixt this and Lambeth; for I take it, that less than ten can never carry a Man over any thing of a grown River.
1771		Aristaenetus Love Epistles (translation) in Atkins Sex in Literature IV 86: Nor shall you that sly gypsy nick, / With any weapon but your — stick.
1797		Bridges Burlesque Homer (4th edn) I 223: Nor shall you that sly gypsy nick, / With any weapon but your — stick.
1833		‘The Parish Priest’ in Regular Thing, And No Mistake 74: For to attempt to correct a modest young woman, / With a diminutive kind of a stick. / Instead of a fine large, etc.
1836		‘The Drummer’s Stick’ in Frisky Vocalist 4: He came upon them in the nick, / And found her having the drummer’s stick.
1842		‘The Copper Stick’ in Nancy Dawson’s Cabinet of Songs 4: May every woman – when in the nick, / Always find such a funny copper stick.
1843		Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 25 Feb. 2/3: All such sticks as these ought to have scratched on their stems or (when made useful) on their ferrules, the fable of old Ae-sop.
1935		Lucille Brogan ‘Shave ’Em Dry’ in Oliver Screening the Blues (1968) 231: Now your nuts hang down like a damn bell-clapper, / And your stick stands up like a steeple.
1950		Crime Smashers Oct. 30: [comic] Oh, yes! I love your bearded clam! Ooooh...Just be careful...I’m not used to sticks your size!
1958		W. Talsman Gaudy Image (1966) 206: ‘You need a spin with a new stick,’ Minnie [i.e. a homosexual man] said, striking a novel pose.
1965		Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 4: bent stick (n.): The penis of a man too elderly to achieve an erection.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 51: penis incapable of erection [...] bent stick; dead stick.
1972		C. Bukowski Erections, Ejaculations etc. 323: My balls just beginning to unlimber [...] and my stick still thinking of the colored maid.
1978		D. Marechera House of Hunger (2013) ‘ [ebook] I licked the rest of the drops from his stick’.
1985		Sheila E ‘Holly Rock’ 🎵 If you got a big enough stick / Come on over to the Holly Rock / Don’t you wanna learn a new trick?
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Stick. 2. A penis.
1996		P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 78: You should hear the guys at school. ‘Suck my dick, slob on the knob, lick my stick’.
2003		www.thepantsman.com 🌐 If these women truly are ‘lining up’ for you antipodean Adonis’s, then a filthy hostel hovel is not going to stop a dripper getting a bit of quality stick.

(b) (UK Und.) a pistol.

c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Sticks, Pops or Pistols. Stow your Sticks, hide your Pistols.
1835		Metropolitan Mag. XIV Sept. 334: Out, howsoever, jumped one of the swells, who was a swodgill, on the other side of the rattler, and coolly taking aim with his stick, brought down poor Bob.
2013		K. Koke ‘Fire in the Booth’ 🎵 These pricks didn't bring sticks they brought planks out / How you gonna bring wood to a gun fight.
2015		410 ‘Four Door Coming’ 🎵 2 hands on a stick, man I’m tryna catch me a body / Niggas know juice garn spill, if you see me riding with Dotty.
2022		Digga D. ‘Stuck in the Mud’ 🎵 I’ll stuff the clip, rise the stick and touch his wig (Baow).

(c) (UK Und.) a breast-pin.

1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 81: Sticks, [...] scarf pins.

(d) (US) a baseball bat.

1868		N.Y. Herald 4 Aug. 6/5: The Empire seemed out of practice with ‘the stick’ [DA].
1908		N.Y. Globe 26 Mar. in Fleming Unforgettable Season (1981) 33: He outclasses them with the stick.
1912		Van Loan ‘Little Sunset’ in Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm 113: He rose and picked out his favorite stick.
1948		S, Paige Pitchin’ Man 57: I don’t mind announcin’ I can hit, and I told Mr. Boudreau I’m always ready with the stick.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 27: Stick: Baseball bat. Johnny, grab a stick; you’re up.

(e) (UK Und.) a crowbar, a jemmy.

1879		‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ in Macmillan’s Mag. (London) XL 503: We shall want some twirls and the stick (crowbar), and bring a neddie (life preserver) with you.
1930		(con. 1910s) D. Mackenzie Hell’s Kitchen 37: We had to use brute force and get to work with our ‘sticks’ (jemmies).
1930		Eve. Herald (Dublin) 9 Dec. 4/6: Other [underworld] terms include : — ‘Flatty’ (policeman), ‘peach’ (to give away), ‘Peter’ (safe), ‘monkey’ (padlock), ‘stick’ (jemmy), ‘van dragger’ (motor thief), ‘snow’ (cocaine), ‘madam’ (misleading conversation) ‘stir’ (prison).
1939		V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 196: It pays me passage back here and the price of a ‘stick’ (jemmy).
1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 251: The bishop, cane, iron, or stick. All mean a jemmy.
1954		J. Phelan Tramp at Anchor 110: Men who were not burglars nevertheless habitually used words like stick [...] when they meant jemmy.
1959		‘Screwsman’s Lament’ in Encounter n.d. in Norman Norman’s London (1969) 67: We went round to my gaff, to get my turtle doves, / My stick, tools and glimmer, which every screwsman loves.
1981		(con. 1900–30) A. Harding in Samuel East End Und. 281: Have you got your cane? Have you got your stick?
1989		(con. 1950s–60s) in G. Tremlett Little Legs 197: stick jemmy.

(f) a police truncheon.

1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Stick, a policeman’s club.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1967		in J. Olsen Black is Best 108: ‘I’m the guy that always want to bust the cop in the mouth! [...] —And he’s the one with the two guns and the stick, and I want to bust him!’.
1975		J. Wambaugh Choirboys (1976) 60: My partner and me and half the nightwatch are gonna work out on your gourd with our sticks.
1981		(con. 1900–30) A. Harding in Samuel East End Und. 284: Stick – Policeman’s truncheon.
1987		M. McAlary Buddy Boys 176: I don’t have a night stick on me. I never liked carrying a stick.

(g) (US Und./prison) a blackjack.

1929		C.G. Givens ‘Chatter of Guns’ in Sat. Eve. Post 13 Apr.; list extracted in AS VI:2 (1930) 134: stick, n. Blackjack.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 210/1: Stick, n. [...] 6. (P) A bludgeon.

(h) a clarinet.

1935		N.E. Williams His Hi De Highness of Ho De Ho 35: The clarinet player, when he takes a soaring break, is ‘getting off on a stick’.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 248: If I could play that stick like you do, I’d be out there runnin’ [...] in all the fine places.

(i) (US gambling) the croupier’s rake; thus used to mean the croupier and the croupier’s booth; thus on the stick, working as a croupier .

1937		C. Himes ‘Every Opportunity’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 247: A little hunchbacked guy called ‘Speedy’ had his old job on the stick in the blackjack game.
1944		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 28 Oct. 16: The lady of the house works the stick and the rest of the chicks [...] gamble all day long.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 106: Then Slim hollers, ‘Winner, winner, winner,’ as stick guys love to do.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 210/1: Stick, n. [...] 3. A cashier’s cage; a cash register; a croupier’s booth.

(j) (US) a billiard or pool cue; thus stick hall n., a poolroom.

1957		R. Finestone in Cressey & Ward Delinquency, Crime, and Social Process (1969) 790: Thus he used [...] ‘stick hall’ for pool hall.
1962		P. Crump Burn, Killer, Burn! 304: Go to the stick hall.
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 87: Bert, a better-than-average shooter, took a stick in the game.

(k) (Aus./US) a surfboard.

1978		Tharunka (Sydney) 3 Apr. n.p.: Right all you TEAS grabbing, flower bagged, scoob scoffing bastards; down ya bongs, put on ya thongs an’ ‘wax up’ ya sticks.
1999		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 7: stick – surfboard: ‘Let’s go to the beach so that I can try out my new stick.’.
2001		D. Jenkins Money-Whipped Steer-Job 3: ‘Or he has a surfboard under his arm and the only thing he can say is ‘Grab your stick, dude, there’s a swell at Pipeline’.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Sunset’ in Broken 179: ‘I seem to have misplaced my stick’.

(l) (US black) a knife.

1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 49: stick [...] ‘Nigger picked-up the stick and cut me.’.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 178/1: stick n. l a knife or razor.
2002		G. Pelecanos Hell to Pay 146: Wilson produced a switchblade knife from his coat pocket [...] ‘Picked this up over in Italy [...] They make the prettiest sticks.’.

(m) (US) an act of sexual intercourse.

1999

J. Ridley Everybody Smokes in Hell 143: I can have any skeez I want. Why da fuck should you git a double stick from me?

(n) (US) a car with a manual gear lever.

2000

F. Kellerman Stalker (2001) 68: The car has manual transmission. And even if you can drive a stick, you gotta know how the gears go. And even if you know the gears, you gotta know how to drive a very temperamental car.

(a) of a person, an insult, esp. awkward and/or dull.

1672		M. Atkins Cataplus 65: Here Phlegyas that was a bad stick / Of heresy, and a fanatick.
1785		M. Lonsdale Spanish Rivals I ii: ’Icod, I think he has jumbled it a bit—He’s a queer stick to make a thivel on, as they say in our country.
1798		‘Country Life’ in Hilaria 67: In the Country you’re nail’d like a pale in your park, / To some stick of a neighbour.
1801		M. Edgeworth Belinda (1994) 267: And you out of patience [...] will go and marry – I know you will – some stick of a rival purely to provoke him.
1814		Austen Mansfield Park (1926) 122: I was surprised to see Sir Henry such a stick; luckily the strength of the piece did not depend upon him.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 165: Stick (a) a fellow clumsy at any profession ? as ‘a stick of an artist,’ should not be an exhibitioner.
1838		Paul Pry 30 Sept. 183/3: [H]e is [...] a poor stick without any of Ben’s cunning.
1838		T. Haliburton Clockmaker II 10: He was a poor stick to make a preacher on, for minister couldn’t beat nothin’ into him, a’most, he was so cussed stupid.
1842		‘The Call-Boy’ in Nobby Songster 31: For he is no stick, he is up to each trick.
1855		N.Y. Daily Trib. 4 Sept. 4/2: Look, for instance, at [...] ‘Bill’ Drake, about the poorest stick for a legislator ever elected.
1860		E. Eden Semi-Attached Couple (1979) 259: I am very much disappointed in William Montague; he is a regular stick on the stage.
1879		‘’Arry on the River’ in Punch 9 Aug. 57/1: They didn’t get arf a look in ’long o’ me; they’d no form, them two sticks.
1880		N.Z. Observer (Auckland) 18 Sept. 6/1: Owen Westford, whom I had previously thought a most ponderous ‘stick,’ played ‘Barney’ [...] uncommonly well.
1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 2 Sept. 3/1: Jefferson, with a company of ‘sticks,’ [...] principally of his quadruple family and a sprinkling of low-salaried poor devils .
1887		W.S. Gilbert ‘The Martinet’ Fifty ‘Bab’ Ballads 214: His First Lieutenant, peter, was / As useless as could be, / A helpless stick, and always sick / When there was any sea.
1894		Mirror of Life 21 July 3/4: ‘Should you say that a girl who wanted to become a model could do any good by going on the stage?’ [...] 'Worst thing she could do! The stage is full of shocking sticks’.
1896		W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 15: stick, and poor stick A stupid, uninteresting person.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 21 Aug. 4/7: I own I’m not a solemn stick, / I’m fond of jokes and wheezes.
1905		C. Chesnutt Colonel’s Dream 101: He’s only a poor stick, the last of good stock run to seed.
1913		H. Truman letter 21 Jan. in Ferrell Dear Bess (1983) 111: She finally decided that I am a very poor stick to talk to.
1927		(con. 1900s) S. Lewis Elmer Gantry 154: Lulu considered him a stick.
1934		J.H. O’Hara Appointment in Samarra (1935) 153: It became very very easy to think of him as a stick, a stuffed shirt.
1945		G. Fairlie Capt. Bulldog Drummond 73: All his life in America, he had thought of an Englishman as a dull stick.
1950		‘Josephine Tey’ To Love and Be Wise 164: ‘[Y]ou don’t really think that that poor stick Walter Whitmore ever got up enough red blood to tap the Searle boy on the head, do you?’ .
1969		F. O’Connor Set of variations 153: The headmaster of the Technical School, an ugly, slow-moving, cynical man whom Celia considered a dull stick.
1979		H. Leonard A Life (1981) Act I: Ah, don’t be such a dry old stick.
1987		New York mag. 23 Mar. 89/1: Angela’s Ralph is, at best, a dull stick.
2008		C. Ennico Legal Job Interview 168: What he wants to hear is that you are just as much of a dull stick as he is.
2017		A. Parks Bloody January 262: Picture should be enough to make the Wee Free stick choke on his morning tea.

(b) a sermon [? the ‘wooden’ delivery of some sermons or the wooden pulpit].

1759

T. Boucher Letter J. James 7 Aug. (MS.) n.p.: What matter of a new stick, vamp them one for next Sunday [OED].

(c) an affectionate term for a person, e.g. not a bad old stick.

1883		A.H. Roskell Six Years of a Tramp’s Life 60: Such a funny old stick I never did see. I was to stop a week with him and share his hospitality.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 81: ‘[A] rum stick,’ an odd or curious person.
1905		C. Messent Doctor in Corduroy 275: ‘Ah, well,’ said Kate, ‘you are a good old stick, and I am proud of you.’.
1919		‘Bartimeus’ ‘Narrative of Commander W.D. Hornby’ in Awfully Big Adventure 93: Selby was our Navigator, a dry, thoughtful old stick.
1929		J.B. Priestley Good Companions 98: He’s a pleasant old stick.
1935		G. Ingram Cockney Cavalcade 179: He ain’t a bad stick really.
1955		D. Niland Shiralee 41: Good old stick, though. Wouldn’t do you a bad turn.
1960		N. Hilliard Maori Girl 179: He smiled. ‘Great stick, Harry. One of the best.’.
1966		P. White Solid Mandala (1976) 86: All told, Ma Musto wasn’t such a bad stick.
1975		D. Davin Breathing Spaces 89: She’s a funny old stick.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 25: Williams was not a bad old stick in his own eccentric way.
1991		J. Osborne Déjàvu Act II: He was a good old stick. Well, he was very nice to me.

(d) (N.Z./US Black) a friend; esp. as a term of address.

2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 199: stick Mate, eg, ‘G’day, stick, ow’s it goin’ then?’ Maybe a contraction of ‘stickman’.
2012		‘Dutch’ ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] That’ cool, stic, but I’d rather speak to KG.

(a) a shot of spirits, usu. rum or brandy added to coffee or tea; usu. in phr. with a stick in it [? Ger. schtuck, a piece].

1815		R. Anderson Cumberland Ballads (1808) 175: A quart o’ het yell, and a stick in’t .
1858		Tralee Chron. 15 Jan. 2/6: [T]hat very fine sirloin of Sweeny’s best beef," [...] I’ll engage, too, it wasn’t with aqua pura you washed all down, but a dhrop something with a ‘stick’ in it.
1867		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 12 Oct. n.p.: No doubt [...] sarsparilla does not agree with you, but perhaps a ‘stick’ fell into it, eh?
1876		St Louis Globe-Democrat 19 Jan. n.p.: They nominate ‘bottled electricity,’ ‘lemonade with a stick in it,’ ‘jig-water,’ ‘budge,’ ‘bilge-water,’ ‘bug-juice,’ ‘rat-poison,’ ‘fusel-oil,’ ‘red-eye,’ ‘liquid ointment,’ ‘cut nails,’ ‘hard head,’ ‘benzine,’ ‘nitro-glycerine,’ ‘oil,’ ‘tea,’ ‘eye-water,’ ‘chain- lightning.’ [...] they all want the same article, alcohol, more or less diluted.
1890		R.M. Praed Romance of a Station I 136: Come [...] and have a parting drink for good luck – coffee, if you like, with a ‘stick’ in it.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 21 Jan. 4/2: It is admitted that he had taken advantage of that day’s festive opportunity to imbibe more or less liquids impregnated with what ‘Widdy O’Brien’ termed ‘a stick’.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 26 Oct. 3/3: The old tarts composing the W.C.T.U. duly met in solemn conclave [...] and between sips of tea (minus a ‘stick’) talked a lot of scandal.
1912		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 78: How do you like the lemonade yer honor? Fine O Malley — Get me another. I must cure this cold today — Don’t forget the stick in it.
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 270: Get her a glass of milk with a stick in it.

(b) (US) one who deals in illicit liquor.

1931

A. Hardin ‘Volstead Eng.’ in AS VII:2 86: Terms for those who deal in liquor: [...] Stick.

(c) (US black) a drunkard.

1944

‘Jiver’s Bible’ in D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive.

(a) a cigarette.

1897		E.W. Townsend Chimmie Fadden 182: Dey would come and stand round wid dere sticks in dere mouts.
1906		‘Hugh McHugh’ Skidoo! 86: When the other young men began to smoke their cigarettes Claude grew uneasy. After they had consumed about seven sticks apiece Claude buried his face in a foaming stein of beer.
1917		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 26 Jan. [synd. col.] It was the Ritz that first permitted milady to use nicotine sticks within its sacred portals.
1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 17: consumption stick — Cigarette.
1947		J.W. Arnold ‘The Lang. of Delinquent Boys’ in AS XXII:2 Apr. 122: Stick. A cigaret.
1953		T. Williams Camino Real Block Sixteen: The smoking lamp is lit. Have a stick on me!
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 58: Then the stick was gone, burnt to a little bit of a roach.
1997		Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 350: No more sliding the Korean twenty-five cents through the Plexiglas and getting back a single stick.
2000		G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 45: I can still picture Charles, taking a pull on that stick, trying to blow rings.

(b) a quantity of opium.

1919

‘Sax Rohmer’ Dope 92: I have only three sticks of Yezd left of all my stock.

(c) an opium pipe.

1936		D. Maurer ‘Argot of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 1 in AS XI:2 126/2: stick. 1. A home-made opium pipe constructed from a wide-mouthed bottle and rubber tubing. 2. Variant of dream-stick, hop stick, joy stick.
1937		B. Dai Opium Addiction in Chicago.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1959		J.E. Schmidt Narcotics Lingo and Lore.

(d) a marijuana cigarette.

1938		Williams & Bechet ‘Viper Mad’ 🎵 Just viper mad / Must have my fun [. . .] / Wrap your chops ‘round this stick of tea / Blow this gage and get high with me.
1948		W. Burroughs letter 19 Nov. in Harris (1993) 23: I will send along some weed. Please give some (about 10 sticks) to Brandenburg.
1958		Mad mag. Sept.–Oct. 11: Bobby sells reefers to the other children [...] Sometimes we buy a stick from Bobby.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 42: Goldie gave her a stick and Georgette sucked the smoke refusing, absolutely refusing to cough.
1977		A. Brooke Last Toke 200: He took the stick next, drew deep, held the smoke and started to pass it to Redwood.
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 30: Wanda [...] sat at the kitchen table to twist a few sticks.
2004		Fallacy ‘Scrunch’ 🎵 You’re sling the rocks or run sticks.
2015		P. Beatty Sellout (2016) 126: Puffing and passing, trying to keep your stick from getting dinged up.

(e) (US drugs) a very thinly rolled marijuana cigarette.

1949

Hal Ellson Duke 3: I was saving the bombers. I smoked all the sticks [...] They’re skinny like lollypop sticks.

(f) (US drugs) an injection of heroin.

1997

L. Pettiway Workin’ It 168: One stick and you’re hooked.

(g) a magazine of ammunition.

2020

T. Pluck ‘Hula Hula Boys’ in What Pluckery Is This? (28 Jan 2024) 🌐 He took an oilskin from a crevice and unwrapped his Thompson, cleared the breech, and loaded a stick.

(h) see sherm stick under sherm n.

(a) (UK Und.) a man who, working with the woman, violently robs a prostitute’s client.

1861

Age (Melbourne) 17 May 7/7: [from Manchester Examiner, UK] ‘You know I’m not a burglar,’ one of them said to Inspector Buckley, ‘you know my trade — I’m a stick,' the slang title of those who aid women to rob men.

(b) (US Und.) a criminal’s accomplice who poses as an ordinary person to distract or influence the victims of an intended crime or swindle.

1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Stick, a grafter’s or confidence man’s assistant.
1949		‘I’ll Gyp You Every Time’ in C. Hamilton Men of the Und. 181: Several of the sticks standing around managed [...] to remove a few of the red tickets.
1952		C. Hamilton Men of the Und. 176: The anonymous author [...] joined a carnival and, working as a stick, cleaned up $200 in four days.
1972		N. Algren ‘The Last Carousel’ in Texas Stories (1995) 139: Dixon was the cool-off man and I was the stick.
2012		W. Keyser ‘Carny Lingo’ in http://goodmagic.com 🌐 Shill — Also ‘outside man,’ ‘stick,’ ‘capper,’ ‘front-worker’ or ‘timber.’ Employee who poses as a customer, playing a game (and being secretly allowed to win) or buying a ticket in order to motivate other customers to do likewis.

(c) (US Und./gambling) an accomplice who loses deliberately so as to encourage the victim to continue playing.

1926		Maines & Grant Wise-crack Dict. 14/1: Stick – A confederate who wins or loses at dealer’s will.
1935		N. Algren Somebody in Boots 356: These women and girls [...] secured employment on the Fair grounds as waitresses, ‘sticks’ for gyp gambling joints.
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 7: Inside were several monte games going, replete with shills and ‘sticks’.
1953		W.L. Alderson ‘Carnie Talk’ in AS XXVIII:2 119: stick, n. An outside man; a come-one.

(d) (US prison) a close friend.

2000

Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Stick: Used by prisoners to designate someone as their pal or homeboy. The term is used by the correctional officers when referring to each other or other staff members as in the person who will stick by them in case trouble breaks out. Also called ‘stick man.’ (VA).