[Ads-l] Stick (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill CIV (US)]

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

When gymnasts complete an event in which they land accurately and without moving, they "stick the landing".  I don't see this sense in the OED (although a couple come close).  The recent launch and landing of the Space-X rocket extends the term beyond gymnastics.

2 Aug 1984 _[Ellensburg WA] Daily Record] p 10 col 6 [Google News Archive]
"But Retton, who uncharacteristically failed to stick the landing of one of her tumbling passes, was able to put it all into perspective."

3 Mar 1985 _Logansport [IN] Pharos-Tribune_ p 15 col 4 [www.newspapers.com]
"In exhibitions, it is so much different.  You just stick your landing and smile at everyone." [Mary Lou Retton speaking]

26 Dec 2014_Washington Post_ p A16 [Proquest electronic edition]
"But if SpaceX is able to one day stick the landing of the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket with consistency, it would mark a significant advancement for space flight."

21 Dec 2015 _Investor's Business Daily_ [Proquest electronic edition, no page #]
"SpaceX is set for a potentially historic launch Monday evening, sending multiple small satellites into orbit and then aiming to stick the landing of its massive booster rocket on Florida terrain."



OED has "stick em up" from 1931

27 Apr 1912 _Bunbury [WA] Herald_ p 2 col 3
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/87207428?searchTerm="stick em up"
""Reach up them hands!" there came from a voice behind the gun.  "Stick 'em up, and walk out of that line from the jail door."


OED has "stick up" (robbery) from [1887] and 1904

4 Aug 1853 _The [Melbourne Victoria Australia] Argus_ p 5 col 6
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/4795322?searchTerm="a stick up"
"A Sticking-Up Case" [an account of a robbery]

9 June 1857 _The [Melbourne Victoria Australia] Age_ p 5 col 1
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/154823907?searchTerm="a stick up"
"At Green's Pinch, Kilmore, two fellows deliberately enter a stable, "stick up" the proprietor, and ride off with two valuable horses."

8 Feb 1862 _Sydney [NSW Australia] Mail_ p 1 col 5
"No one ever yet saw a constable turn the corner of a street until after the row was over; so the active patrol generally manage to be on the spot of a "stick-up" just twelve hours after it has occurred, and when the perpetrators are probably fifty miles away."
CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

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