Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. Aus.) to rob, to hold up.

1846		J.L. Stokes Dicoveries in Aus. II 502: It was only the previous night that he had been stuck up with a pistol at his head.
1855		Fife Herald 15 Mar. 2/6: [headline] ‘Sticking up’ in Australia.
1854		W. Howitt Two Years in Victoria (1855) II 187: Unless the mail came well armed, a very few men could stick it up without any trouble or danger.
1869		W.M. Howell Diggings and the Bush 93: The escort has been ‘stuck up,’ and the robbers have taken notes to the value of £700.
1870		M. Cash Life and Adventures 43: Three armed bushrangers [...] took refuge in this hut, after sticking up a public-house at Cleveland.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 2: The coach would be ‘stuck up’ a hundred miles away, in a different direction.
1892		F.A. Hare Last of Bushrangers 116: Ned Kelley [...] ordered him to ‘bail up.’ Macauley without dismounting said, ‘What is the good of your sticking up the station?’.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 17 Feb. 3/4: Then we sticks a blooming bank, / All in Joseph’s ipse-dixey.
1895		Mirror of Life 13 Apr. 6/1: [W]e read that he was ‘stuck up’ by the ‘boys,’ and that but for his courage and ready resource he would have been ‘hung up’ for all he possessed.
1897		Thames Star (Waikato, NZ) 23 Aug. 2/4: We glean that ‘sticking up’ is not an infrequent occurrence [...] Citizens will be acting prudently if they carry, good, stout walking sticks.
1901		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ In Bad Company 142: Morgan’s stuck up the place.
1906		New Boys’ World 29 Dec. 97: One of the fellows who’d stuck the coach up.
1915		Wodehouse Psmith Journalist (1993) 259: They ‘stick up’ an occasional wayfarer for his ‘cush’.
1919		A. Baer Two and Three 17 Mar. [synd. col.] They are sticking up nothing but brawny guys and knocking ’em cold for gate receipts.
1925		D. Hammett ‘The Scorched Face’ Story Omnibus (1966) 68: She was stuck-up a couple of months back and nicked for eight hundred dollars.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 259: You say he stuck this guy up and spent the dough.
1949		W.R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 182: A guy who got stuck up outside one of the clubs.
1959		C. Himes Crazy Kill 92: He stuck Johnny up and got away with two grand.
1964		Larner & Tefferteller Addict in the Street (1966) 170: I don’t go out with a gun, I don’t stick up anybody.
1971		D. Goines Dopefiend (1991) 220: It had never occurred to Teddy that they might get stuck up.
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 48: When I go to make my delivery, instead of getting paid, I get stuck up.
1999		Guardian G2 22 Sept. 5: I don’t know enough French to stick natives up.
2000		Observer Mag. 27 Feb. 23: Going downtown, to where all the college kids and yuppies were, sticking somebody up with a knife or a gun.

2. to blackmail, to extort from; to beg.

1890		E.W. Hornung A Bride from the Bush 297: You never get stuck up for coppers in the streets of the towns.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 1 July 1/1: Professional cadgers, who stick up every likely-looking person they meet.
1898		E.E. Morris Austral Eng. 437/2: Stick up, v.tr. (3) Humorously applied to a collector or a beggar.
1916		‘Anzac’ On the Anzac Trail 176: Stuck up the Q.M.S. for a shirt. He has promised to do his best.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 159: This Party was around sticking up People in the name of a large Undertaking for the General Good.
c.1950		K. Howard Small Time Crooks 48: Some mean-minded guy had got wise to the racket and was sticking up Arthur K. Honnegger to the tune of five grand a time.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 166: You wanna die or something? You don’t stick up people like The Man.

3. (Aus.) to summon, e.g. a bus to stop.

1900

Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Dec. 31/2: Fancying that his conduct had attracted much derisive attention from the crowd, he hadn’t the courage to stick up one of the many real ’busses that followed.

4. to take money from legally, e.g. through gambling.

1912

J. London Smoke Bellew (1926) 167: Then, for the sake of the dream an’ the love of Mike, stick them gamblers up good and plenty.

5. in fig. use, to cost money.

1965		(con. 1930s) R. Wright Lawd Today 64: She’s sticking you up aplenty.
1999		‘The Master Pimp’ Pimp’s Rap 141: A long white mink coat stuck me up for $15,000.

6. (US/N.Z. Und.) of the police, to hold for questioning.

1940		D. Maurer Big Con 308: To stick up. For detectives to question a grifter, then release him.
1940		F. Sargeson ‘I’ve Lost My Pal’ in A Man And His Wife (1944) 48: George told a yarn how he’d been stuck up by the police over that old man that was found dead in a swamp.