See Also: sticky(2)(dictionary)
sticky(dictionary)
sticky(dictionary)
sticky(1)(dictionary)
Sticky(finance)
sticky note(dictionary)
Sticky Rice(tourism)
Sticky deal(finance)
Sticky deal(money)
sticky-ended DNA(medicine)

sticky(2) (iou)



sticky adjective2 & verb. M18.
[from STICK verb1 + -Y1.]
A. adjective.
a. Able to stick or adhere; adhesive; (of a substance) viscid, glutinous. M18.
B. Chatwin The cook was..a wizard at sticky cakes. New Scientist The sticky secretions of mucus that cause congestion.
b. fig. Sickly, mawkish, sentimental. M19.
c. Of a sound: resembling that made by movement of or in a viscid substance. L19.
Of ground: having a soft wet surface. L19.
a. Of the weather: humid, muggy. L19.
B. Vine It was warm and the still air had a sticky feel.
b. Of a person, the skin, etc.: damp with sweat. M20.
C. Harkness I felt nervous and awkward...My hands felt sticky, although I felt cold.
colloq.
a. Of a person: awkward, uncooperative; strait-laced, particular, intransigent (about or over). L19.
b. Of a situation, issue, period of time, etc.: awkward, difficult, unpleasant. E20.
TV Times It's a sticky subject, and Reeve stiffens perceptibly at the reference.
a. Stock Exchange. Of stock, a share issue: not selling, selling badly. E20.
b. Economics. Of prices, interest rates, wages, etc.: slow to change or to react to change. M20.
Special collocations & comb.: sticky-back noun & adjective (a small photograph or notice) having an adhesive back. sticky bomb an anti-tank grenade covered with adhesive to make it stick to its target. sticky dog Cricket slang a sticky wicket. sticky end (a) a violent or unpleasant ending or death; chiefly in come to a sticky end; (b) Genetics an end of a DNA double helix at which a few unpaired nucleotides of one strand extend beyond the other. sticky-fingered adjective apt to steal, light-fingered. sticky-out adjective colloq. protruding. sticky tape adhesive tape. sticky wicket Cricket a wet and difficult surface to play on; fig. (colloq.) a difficult or awkward situation; chiefly in bat on a sticky wicket, be on a sticky wicket.
b. verb trans. Smear with something sticky. colloq. M19.
stickily adverb E20.