noun / verb

stub

STUHB/stʌb/

A short remnant after the rest is removed.

The pencil stub is a short remnant beside the unused pencil.

A used-up pencil stub sits beside a much longer new pencil, making the short remainder clear.

Etymology

A tree stump provided the original model: a short, thick piece left behind. The word broadened to other projecting pieces and then to remnants of things partly consumed or removed.

In context

History Before Sleep162:24

The candle now just a stub. and you feel yourself drifting towards sleep

🏰🌾 Money, PROPERTY & WIDOWS — Women’s Rights in the Middle Ages | History For Sleep

More examples

Keep your ticket stub until you leave the theater.
Only a short stub remains after the candle burns down.
He keeps his pay stubs in a folder.

Forms

stub · stubs · stubbed · stubbing

Similar words

remnant: Any surviving piece, not necessarily short or cut off.
stump: Usually a thicker remnant, especially of a tree or limb.