sticking-place

See also: sticking place

English

Alternative forms

sticking place

Pronunciation

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Noun

sticking-place (plural sticking-places)

(idiomatic, dated) The point at which a process or thing, especially a state of mind or emotion, reaches its greatest strength and remains steadfast; sticking point.
- c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene vii]:
  But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
  And we'll not fail.
- 1837, Thomas Carlyle, “September”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book:
  Old men, who heard it, will still tell you how the reverberating voice made all hearts swell, in that moment; and braced them to the sticking-place.

References

“sticking-place”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)

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